(This is an archived page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book. Current versions are at book contents).
Governments sometimes make military interventions in other countries without trying to acquire territory. They might want to strike against their enemies, to help politically-sympathetic groups, or to protect people at risk; the people they are trying to help may or may not be their own citizens.
Unless such interventions are explicitly authorised by the UN Security Council, they rely upon a trial of strength rather than upon a governance framework – so this book classifies them as Ungoverned Power. They are invariably seen by the target country as acts of war.
As described in the following sub-sections, the country making the intervention can take on different degrees of risk:
· it can deploy an invasion force (7.3.2.1);
· it can make air-strikes from a distance (7.3.2.2);
· or it can deploy unmanned drones (7.3.2.3).
These tactics are listed in a sequence of a diminishing risk of incurring casualties, and they can be used in any combination. Their effectiveness is questionable (7.3.2.4).