EXPLAINING US INTERVENTION IN THIRD-WORLD INTERNAL WARS, 1945-1989

Few quantitative studies of U.S. intervention have focused specificall y on interventions in Third World internal wars and few have taken acc ount of the wide range of U.S. intervention behaviors. To provide empi rical analyses of the causes of U.S. intervention in such wars, this s tudy tested three groups of hypotheses emphasizing strategic and econo mic interests and domestic factors of foreign policy. Cases are Third World internal wars that occurred during the period from 1945 to 1989. Results show that half of the hypotheses concerning strategic interes ts received empirical support, whereas hypotheses stressing the import ance of economic interests received little support. The hypotheses emp hasizing domestic factors supported in the literature of war or use of force are not supported when they are tested in the context of U.S. i nterventions in Third World internal wars.