Military intervention in sub-Saharan Africa
By: Kathleen F. Amponin
Contributors: Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.) 
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 111
Description: The purpose of this thesis is to examine United States military intervention in the civil wars of sub-Saharan      Africa. Because the United States does not have any strategic interests in the region, it becomes involved in      African conflicts only when they reach extreme levels of violence and when states collapse. This level of      violence generates a degree of international sympathy that puts pressure on the United States government to      intervene military in the domestic policies and political arrangements of these countries in order to stop the      violence and restore order. This thesis argues that the violence associated with civil conflict in Africa is part of      the process of central state power accumulation a process which in Europe took place in the 17th and 18th      centuries. By attempting to reestablish order and stability, the United States only disrupts and prevents the      consolidation of state authority necessary for the emergence of national states and long term stability. The thesis      concludes that international military intervention cannot solve the root cause of the instability and that, therefore,      external actors should refrain from intervening in these situations.
Notes: "December 1997."

Thesis advisor(s): Letitia Lawson.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1997.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-110)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US air Force (USAF) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 05/08/98.