U. S. Post-Cold War ‘Humanitarian’ Military Interventions in Africa and the Middle East Case Study

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of U.S. foreign policy in the context of international relations in the post-Cold War era, an era in which the U.S. assumed the role of the world hegemon. It deals with the issue of U.S. ‘humanitarian’ military interventions in Africa and the Middle East. To this end, U.S. interventions in both Somalia (1992) and Iraq (2003), incarnating Africa and the Middle East respectively, have been chosen as cases in point. More specifically, the study examines the extent to which a ‘humanitarian’ concern shaped U.S. foreign policy decisions during its military interventions in both countries, as opposed to calculations of national interests.