Beyond Gunboat Diplomacy

<p>Military intervention short of full scale war is not a new phenomena as a means of pursuing national interests. However with the end of the cold war military intervention has taken a new twist in the form of peace operations. The U.S. Air Force in particular is being used as a tool of national policy in peace enforcement operations with increasing regularity. Currently the USAF is involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and maintains an air presence in both Turkey and Saudi Arabia to control the Iraqi repression of its civilian population. This raises a fundamental question about when and how airpower should be used as an effective coercive force in peace enforcement operations. Peace enforcement is a military intervention in an on going conflict which uses military force to coerce one or more belligerents to comply with mandated restrictions. The purpose of this intervention is to create the proper security conditions such that other peace efforts such as humanitarian relief and diplomatic peacemaking can help the belligerents resolve the conflict without the use of force. This thesis uses PROVIDE COMFORT in northern Iraq and UNITAF/UNISOM II in Somalia as case studies to examine how airpower influences peace enforcement operations.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>