A New Doctrine for American Military Intervention in the Post-Cold War Era

This study examines changing policy trends as America's role as the single world Super-Power evolves. It suggests new criteria for leaders to consider as they evaluate using the military instrument of power in the post-Cold War era. The Weinberger Doctrine helped America's political and military leaders decide when and how to employ military force since 1984, but its Cold War principles are not directly transferable to America's post-Cold War challenges. New centers of decision making; weaker nation-states; and mostly democratic, market-oriented societies in the wake of the perceived Soviet-Communist failure distinguish the post-Cold War landscape. America's modern military must be able to deter violence, fight traditional wars, cope with proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and deal with lesser but demanding humanitarian contingencies. This paper presents six new criteria for military intervention modeled after Weinberger's classic design. They are derived from a combination of: (a) national values, interests, and policy from the National Security Strategy; (b) international law; and (c) a review of models for military intervention from three different perspectives: legal, humanitarian, and political-military.