The Purpose of Intervention - (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by Martha Finnemore (Paperback)

About the Book

Finnemore examines changes over the past 400 years about why countries intervene militarily as well as in the ways they have intervened.

Book Synopsis

Violence or the potential for violence is a fact of human existence. Many societies, including our own, reward martial success or skill at arms. The ways in which members of a particular society use force reveal a great deal about the nature of authority within the group and about its members' priorities.

In The Purpose of Intervention, Martha Finnemore uses one type of force, military intervention, as a window onto the shifting character of international society. She examines the changes, over the past 400 years, about why countries intervene militarily, as well as in the ways they have intervened. It is not the fact of intervention that has altered, she says, but rather the reasons for and meaning behind intervention--the conventional understanding of the purposes for which states can and should use force.

Finnemore looks at three types of intervention: collecting debts, addressing humanitarian crises, and acting against states perceived as threats to international peace. In all three, she finds that what is now considered "obvious" was vigorously contested or even rejected by people in earlier periods for well-articulated and logical reasons. A broad historical perspective allows her to explicate long-term trends: the steady erosion of force's normative value in international politics, the growing influence of equality norms in many aspects of global political life, and the increasing importance of law in intervention practices.

Review Quotes

The Purpose of Intervention aims to describe how changing beliefs have influenced states' willingness to intervene forcibly in other states, and it seeks to generate a set of hypotheses about the processes by which social purpose can evolve in world politics.... Finnemore succeeds in challenging conventional views of the use of force and advancing research on international norms and social purpose. The breadth of evidence and theoretical innovation make this an important book worthy of wide attention.

In this superb inquiry into the reasons states use force abroad, Martha Finnemore looks at military intervention over the past four centuries and concludes that the objectives of powerful states have evolved considerably.... She breaks new ground in showing the link between state power and purpose.

Martha Finnemore argues that the reasons and meanings behind military intervention, as well as the ways in which it is carried out, have changed dramatically over the history of the states system.... The Purpose of Intervention should be read by all serious students of international relations and practitioners of foreign policy. It is a provocative, well-argued, and concisely written book on what is arguably the most timeless and central issue in the discipline, the use of force.

Why states intervene at all--how and why 'saving strangers' is now viewed favorably--is explored in Martha Finnemore's valuable book. Finnemore traces the emerging concern with human security, namely, the growing acceptance of new norms about who is human and our obligations to such people.

Writing a book on intervention and international order is a mammoth task that Finnemore has carried out with panache and admirable skill, and her ability to weave in theoretical assertions makes for a broader contribution to the international relations field. Some very important insights are made, such as those regarding the interconnectedness of intervention and nation-building. The text is readable, yet it provides for some controversy, making it suitable for readers from undergraduate to professorial level.

About the Author

Martha Finnemore is University Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University. She is the author of National Interests in International Society and coauthor, with Michael Barnett, of Rules for the World: International Organizations in Global Politics (both from Cornell).