How the Research Is Empirically Examined 103
polar power, the sole hyperpower, which has very high power, but at the
same time, there are other great powers acting in the system. Because uni-
polar systems are not hegemonic systems, the hyperpower will be con-
stantly challenged by countries and great powers that will not accept it
supremacy and will attempt to undermine it. This impulse will lead the
hyperpower to wider military involvement than Wohlforth’s forecast and
this in turn will lead to partial destabilization of the system.
The Unipolar System and American InvolvementThe American policy in the 1990s led it not to intervene excessively in
events in the global scene. In this period, the United States might have
understood that it was the sole polar power in a unipolar system. Con-
versely, it might have considered itself to be able to maintain its status as
the leader of the system without “getting its hands dirty” in large-scale
military involvements “far” from its own soil. Regardless of the reason
for Washington’s distance from military involvements in the 1990s, it may
be shown that this system has not left it any possibility other than active
involvement.
Persian Gulf Region. The Gulf War (1991) ended in April 1991, the
United States maintaining Iraq’s territorial integrity and abstaining from
occupying it after a ground invasion. However, after that war ended and
until the Iraq War (2003) in which the United States conquered Iraq, Wash-
ington had to be involved five more times in crises in the region and use
military power in them:
- Iraq no-fly zone, a crisis that took place from August 18 to September 8,
1992, concerning the no-fly zone for Iraqi aircraft, which was forced by
the United States (and Great Britain and France).^121 - Iraq troop deployment—Kuwait, a crisis that took place from October
7 to November 10, 1994, involving Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United
States, and Iraq. The president of Iraq caused the crisis in order to pres-
sure the United States and the international community to remove the
sanctions imposed on his country.^122 - Desert Strike, from August 31 to September 14, 1996, involving the
United States and Iraq in an international crisis, alongside significant
involvement of Iran and Turkey. On August 31, 1996, approximately
40,000 Iraqi troops intervened in the Kurdish Civil War. The involve-
ment was north of the 36th parallel, which was an area protected by
the 1991 agreements. This motivated the United States to intervene in
the crisis and led to a coalition of countries that forced constraints on
Iraq’s involvement by unilateral bombing of Iraqi military forces and
air defense systems.^123