ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses three questions: What were the principal reasons for intervention during the Cold War? How does contemporary intervention differ from the past? and What explains the differences between the two periods? It discusses the definitions of the principal terms and examines the role of intervention in the international relations of the Cold War. Superpower intervention was neither a question of regulating conflicts, nor of defending human rights and relieving suffering. The chapter also examines the evolution of the theory and practice of intervention after the Cold War. It argues that the displacement of states by multilateral organizations, of strategic considerations by domestic politics, and the national interests by international standards is more apparent than real. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the analysis for the dissonance between the global and the local in the contemporary international system.