United States and the Norm of Non-Intervention

In this book, Hege Kristin Ulvin analyses the role of the norm of non-intervention in American use of military force, focusing on the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It is often said that these two presidencies are very different from each other not least with respect to the US role in the international society. This study suggests that the two administrations differ more in rhetoric than in substance regarding the use of military force. In the four cases analysed here, US national security was used as the first and foremost reason for US intervention. Arguments focusing on other factors, such as international security and humanitarian concerns, were to a large extent used to accompany the argument of national security. What seems to be more important to US intervention policy than person and political party is the long American tradition of exceptionalism, which seems to result in a United States placing itself above international arrangements and norms, claiming a right to act unilaterally. Ulvin s analysis indicates that as long as US conviction, resources and will of action are present, intervention will eventually happen.