Uses of Force and Wilsonian Foreign Policy

Frederick S. Calhoun examines the policies Woodrow Wilson pursued during the seven military interventions he undertook between 1914 and 1919 to develop a specialised vocabulary describing how force is employed as a function of international policy. Calhoun categorises uses of force in five ways: firstly, as protection: a government's resort to armed power in response to specific threats, real or perceived; secondly, as retribution: a government's resort to armed power to chastise another government or organised group operating within another country; thirdly, as solution: a government's resort to armed power to resolve a problem with another government or organised group operating in a foreign country; fourth, as introduction: a government's resort to armed power to compel or inaugurate negotiations with another government or organised group operating in a foreign company; and finally, as association: a government's resort to armed power to ally itself with specific governments or groups or in response to demands from its allies. This vocabulary allows for a concise description of most military interventions and presents comparative terms for analysing interventions within a larger context.