Cold war alliance and overt military intervention, 1945–1991

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Abstract
Whether rigid and extensive alliances help keep peace or promote war is a vexing question in theory of international politics. The Cold War era following World War II presents an apparent paradox: two great coalitions openly confronted one another; their members contributed to numerous local wars and other international crises which continually threatened global conflagration; yet world peace generally prevailed. It is suggested that persistence of general peace despite frequentlocal savagery owes in part to differential effects of Cold War alliances upon defensive and offensive overt military intervention which, in turn, have different implications for the diffusion and magnitude of war. 690 instances of overt military interventions conducted by all world states between September 1945 and December 1991 are systematically examined. A strong tendency toward intra‐allied defensive intervention is observed consistent with intense local warfare. At the same time, a comparatively weak tendency toward inter‐allied offensive intervention is observed, consistent with avoidance of general war.

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