ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War a series of costly civil wars, many of them ethnic conflicts, have dominated the international security agenda. The international community, often acting through the United Nations or regional organizations like NATO, has felt compelled to intervene with military forces in many of these conflicts, including the four cases that comprise the heart of this study: the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Cambodia, and Rwanda. The mixed record of partial successes, failures, and in some cases counterproductive interventions suggests an urgent need to extract lessons from these experiences with a view toward developing a better conceptual framework to guide future policy choices. 1
