The type of violence characterizing mass atrocities—ethnic identity-based violence or violence against political opponents—influences the effectiveness of different forms of intervention to mitigate mass atrocity violence.
military intervention
“[W]hether public opinion is a constraint on military action or an effect of threats strongly depends on the primary objective of the military operation and whether or not the threats to a state’s national interests are clear and tangible.”
People care about deaths in war, whether the killing of their own soldiers or the killing of foreign civilians, which affects their support for military action.
More complex peace agreements with a greater number of provisions correspond with a greater probability of failed implementation and of armed conflict recurrence.
Between 1960 and 2005, 106 countries (democracies and non-democracies) have suffered reduced quality of life due to foreign military interventions.
The U.S. military is more likely to engage in a campaign for human rights than for security reasons, such as threats to democracy or terrorist activity.