Abstract:
In the period from 1991 to 1995, three major humanitarian crises took place; in the former Yugoslavia, in Somalia, and in Rwanda hundreds of thousands of people were killed. This period coincides with the end of the Soviet Union and the consequent advent of American hegemony. This paper explores why the United States did not intervene in these crises, or did not do so until the crisis was well advanced. It examines the domestic, personal, and international constraints and considerations acting on U.S. policymakers that led to their adopting specific policies of non-intervention.