International Military Intervention, 1946-1988

This data collection documents all cases of military intervention across international boundaries by regular armed forces of independent states in the regions of Europe, the Americas (and Caribbean), Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East/North Africa. Military interventions are defined operationally in this collection as the movement of regular troops or forces (airborne, seaborne, shelling, etc.) of one country into the territory or territorial waters of another country, or forceful military action by troops already stationed by one country inside another, in the context of some political issue or dispute. The study seeks to identify politically important actions which interpose a state directly into the conflict patterns occurring in another state, and which conceivably involve a breach of the sovereignty of the target state (albeit by invitation in some cases). The collection identifies intervener and target countries and specifies the starting and ending dates of the intervention. A series of potential interests in or motives for intervention are presented, including effects on the target's domestic disputes, foreign or domestic policies, and efforts to protect social factions in the target, to attack rebels in sanctuaries across borders ("hot pursuit"), to protect or enhance economic/resource interests, to protect military or diplomatic facilities, to save lives, or to affect regional power balances and strategic relations. Information is provided on the direction of the intervention, i.e., to support or oppose the target government, to support or oppose opposition groups in the target, or to support or oppose third-party governments or opposition groups. Other variables show the degree of prior intervention, the alliance or treaty relationship between intervener and target, prior colonial status, prior intervention, and measures of intervener and target power size. A series of intensity measures, such as battle-related casualties, is also included. For each type of incursion, by land, sea, or air, an ordinal scale of involvement is presented, ranging from minor engagement such as evacuation, to patrols, acts of intimidation, and actual firing, shelling, or bombing. Finally, contiguity information is provided to indicate both whether intervener and target are geographically contiguous, and whether the intervention was launched from contiguous territory.

本数据集详尽记录了独立国家常规武装力量在欧洲、美洲（及加勒比地区）、亚洲及太平洋、撒哈拉以南非洲以及中东/北非地区跨越国际边界进行军事干预的所有案例。在本收集资料中，军事干预被定义为某国常规部队或力量（空中、海上、炮击等）进入他国领土或领海，或在他国内部已驻扎的部队因某些政治问题或争端而采取的强制军事行动。本研究旨在识别对另一国冲突模式产生直接影响且可能涉及目标国主权侵犯（即便在某些情况下是应邀请）的政治重要行动。收集资料明确了干预国和目标国，并指出了干预的起始和结束日期。一系列可能的干预动机被提出，包括对目标国国内争端、外交或内政政策的影响，保护目标国内的社会派别，攻击跨越国界的避难所内的叛军（“热追踪”），保护或增强经济/资源利益，保护军事或外交设施，拯救生命，或影响地区力量平衡和战略关系。提供了关于干预方向的详细信息，即支持或反对目标政府，支持或反对目标国内的反对派，或支持或反对第三方政府或反对派。其他变量展示了先前干预的程度，干预国与目标国之间的联盟或条约关系，先前的殖民地位，先前的干预行动以及干预国和目标国力量大小的衡量指标。还包括了一系列强度指标，如与战斗相关的伤亡。对于每种类型的入侵，无论是陆地、海上还是空中，都提供了一个涉及程度的顺序量表，从轻微的介入如撤离，到巡逻、恐吓行为，以及实际的射击、炮击或轰炸。最后，提供了连续性信息，以表明干预国和目标国是否在地理上是连续的，以及干预是否从连续领土发起。