ABSTRACT
The Lebanese civil conflict that began in 1975 provides an excellent case study in escalation and in forms of intervention ranging widely in scale and purpose. In studying the Lebanon example, the two most important questions to ask are: what kinds of results seem most achievable by outside intervention; and what forms of intervention seem most effective in producing these results? This chapter analyzes the first question by examining whether interventions have much success in resolving disputes or whether they seem most effective in achieving results short of resolution such as stopping hostilities, moderating the severity of fighting, limiting the spread of a conflict to new areas or new participants, and so forth. In studying the forms of intervention, the chapter looks at actions by individual governments, by ad hoc groups of states, and by multilateral organizations, both regional and global. These questions lead to a discussion on the forms of intervention most effective in achieving results.
