Land of the Free, Home of the Crave: American Intercession in Africa Post-cold War

Abstract

America has intervened in Africa fourteen times since the end of the Cold War, this relatively high number of interventions contradicts the isolationist ideals of Americans during this time. In order to satisfy the public and reach political goals, America began a line of soft interventions –or intercessions. The research hypothesizes that America increases intercessions with an increase in civilian death tolls during a civil conflict, as well as when natural resource rent in the given country is declining. Finding that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship with a decline in natural resource rent and intercession probability. The results indicate that America intercedes in order to increase natural resource rent and therefore decrease prices, especially in regard to oil. Although American intercession is incentivized foremost by economic conditions, the result helps stabilize the developing economy by successfully raising natural resource rent, serving to decrease the recidivism rates of civil conflict.