Marines on the Beach: The Politics of U.S. Military Intervention Decision Making

Paul explores both how and why U.S. military intervention decisions are made. Pursuit of that inquiry requires the identification of decision participants thorough examination of the decision-making processes they employ and recognition of several factors that influence intervention decisions: the national interest, legitimacy, and the legacies of previous policies. This book provides chapter-length treatment of each of these issues. The research is based on detailed historical case studies for the four U.S. "Marines on the beach" military interventions in Latin America since World War II: The Dominican Republic (1965), Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), and Haiti (1994). Additional cases (notably Afghanistan and Iraq) enter the discussion when Paul considers findings with broader implications.

About the Author

Christopher Paul is a social scientist working out of RAND's Pittsburgh office. He received his PhD in sociology from UCLA in 2001. His current research interests include military influence operations, integration of air and naval forces, simulation training, press-military relations, counterterrorism, and military operations on urban terrain. He is the author of Information Operations (Praeger Security International, 2008).