Publication date:
29 August 2016Length of book:
200 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498507097
The 2013 debate over whether the United States should intervene in the Syrian conflict raised important questions regarding the benefits countries receive when they intervene in civil wars, and how those benefits are distributed to the citizens of the intervening country. To address these lingering questions this book offers readers a comprehensive examination of the intervention process, examining the decision to intervene, what motivates states, and how their intervention shapes the conflict process.
Most, importantly, the book examines how states benefit from their interventions and the distribution of intervenor benefits. Specially two questions are addressed: What are the benefits of intervention for intervening countries? And, how are benefits distributed within the intervenors society? Using evidence compiled from three case studies (El Salvador, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka), this book examines what motivated states to intervene, how they intervened, what they got from their intervention, and how the benefits of the intervention were distributed among the public. Arguing that foreign policy and security decision making is isolated from the general public, this book argues that citizens gain little from indirect interventions into civil wars.
Most, importantly, the book examines how states benefit from their interventions and the distribution of intervenor benefits. Specially two questions are addressed: What are the benefits of intervention for intervening countries? And, how are benefits distributed within the intervenors society? Using evidence compiled from three case studies (El Salvador, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka), this book examines what motivated states to intervene, how they intervened, what they got from their intervention, and how the benefits of the intervention were distributed among the public. Arguing that foreign policy and security decision making is isolated from the general public, this book argues that citizens gain little from indirect interventions into civil wars.
Castellano seeks to answer an important question: what are the benefits of interventions into civil wars, particularly for regular citizens in intervening states? The author examines factors that motivate states to intervene in civil wars, how interventions shape conflict dynamics, the benefits that are produced, and how those benefits are distributed in the short and long term following an intervention. Three civil wars are used as case studies: the 1979–1992 Salvadoran Civil War, the 1975–1988 conflict between the Moro insurgency and the Filipino government, and the 1983–1987 first Eelam War in Sri Lanka. The author creates a theory to explain state decision making that leads to civil war interventions using the criminal justice model of motive, means, and opportunity as well as a framework to understand how the benefits of the intervention are distributed among citizens in the intervening states. Findings from the case studies indicate that the benefits gained by the intervening states go to the political, economic, and security elites with citizens gaining very little from civil war interventions, indicating a disconnect among decision makers and citizens. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.