The US, NATO and Military Burden-Sharing

This study establishes that political, economic, and military-technological changes transform the international system and alter the way in which a state views its and others' responsibilities and burdens for responding to international crises. It assesses the distribution of the costs of raising and supporting armed forces, the risks of deploying them overseas and using them in combat or peace operations, and the extent to which members of the system have a responsibility for maintaining international order in the context of three instances of multinational military intervention - the Multinational Force deployment in Lebanon in 1982-83, the first Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 including information of the impact of the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the United Nations', and subsequently NATO's, intervention in the Balkans 1992-99.

Stephen J. Cimbala is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Penn State University (Delaware County).