The U.S. use of military intervention to promote democracy: Evaluating the record

Given the foreign policy priority that the Clinton administration has placed on the "enlargement" of the democratic community, a relevant question is whether military intervention is an effective instrument for achieving such a purpose. This research explores the impact of American interventions since 1945 on the political systems of the targets. What happens when U.S. presidents pursue "pro-liberalization policies" through military interventions? Merging several inventories of interventionary actions, we examine what sorts of interventions are associated with liberal changes in the nature of the targets' political regimes.