Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States, as the remaining superpower, has faced increased pressure to take the lead in resolving regional conflicts around the globe. Each year since the end of the cold war, there have been approximately 35 regional conflicts documented around the world.¹ In addition, numerous natural disasters such as the floods in Bangladesh or the droughts in Somalia have often produced calls for US help and intervention. World opinion has influenced decision makers to take action even when vital US interests were apparently not at stake. As recent history has documented, US involvement...

During the cold war, the United States vital interests appeared to be more easily definable than they are currently. Most conflicts were perceived as “proxy wars” because they seemed to be supported by one of the two superpowers. Due to the fear that conflict escalation might end with the use of nuclear weapons, there were inherent and largely unwritten limitations placed on the use of force that now no longer exist.

In their place, however, new constraints materialized and political and economic criteria are playing an increasingly stronger role in determining the use of the military instrument of power for...

To consider conflict termination in the new world order, Somalia presents an excellent case to demonstrate the conditions, problems, and challenges the United States can expect in future conflicts. Before 1992 the average citizen probably had never heard of Somalia. That changed when the international media began broadcasting vivid pictures of hungry families along the sides of dusty roads, children playing in the dirt, and thousands of people dying of starvation each week. In August 1992, even though the United States and the world were preoccupied with the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, President George Bush issued an order...

The US action designed to restore the democratic government to Haiti presents an example of a limited US intervention under the auspices of UN resolutions. Initially, the situation on the ground in Haiti resembled Somalia, prompting the US military to plan a hostile intervention. However, the successful last-minute negotiations by former President Jimmy Carter and retired Gen Colin Powell allowed the armed forces to move into Haiti under permissive conditions; and on 19 September 1994, the US Army occupied the Port-au-Prince airport to initiate Operation Uphold Democracy. As a result, Lt Gen Raoul Cedras, who had seized the presidency in...

In the Somalia operations the end state was never clearly defined. Thus, the US involvement was open-ended, which resulted in a US presence that went beyond what the American public intended or was willing to finance. Since the initial guidance did not include an exit strategy, it was up to the military commander to start planning conflict termination at the tactical level and forward it up the chain of command for political approval. This worked only for a short time. Soon the political events and the UN goals overcame this process, and the initially limited mission objectives continued to expand...