The Nonintervention DelusionNovember/December 2019 87tendency to intervene is not simply the product o¡ the United States’
emergence as an unbridled superpower after the Cold War. Between
1948 and 1991, during a time o¡ supposedly stabilizing bipolar compe-
tition, the United States sent its military to ̄ght abroad more than 50
times. American military action is not, as many believe, a feature o¡
post–Cold War overstretch; it has been a central element o¡ the
United States’ approach to the world for decades.THE CASE AGAINST
Just because the United States has intervened so frequently over its
history does not mean that it will continue to do so or that it should.
The case against intervention generally takes ̄ve forms. And although
there are elements o¡ truth to each, they also threaten to obscure other,
more complicated realities.
The ̄rst argument holds that the United States need not employ
military means in response to terrorism, civil wars, mass atrocities,
and other problems that are not its business. Washington has used
force against terrorists in countries ranging from Niger to Pakistan,
with massive human and ̄nancial expenditures. And yet i¡ more
Americans die in their bathtubs each year than in terrorist attacks,
why no war on porcelain? The post-9/11 overreach, this camp contends,BRITTANY GREESON
/ THE
NEW
YORK
TIMES
/ REDUX
Paved with good intentions: Bernie Sanders at a rally in Michigan, April 2019