"War...uhhh...What Is It Good For?"

According to Collier, military intervention is good for something:

1. the restoration of order
2. maintaining post conflict peace
3. protection against coups

Collier acknowledges that Iraq and Somalia represent fantastic failures of the military intervention strategy as a tool of development. Collier states that military intervention is not the problem itself; the problem lies in how that intervention is provided.

And Iraq and Somalia are textbook cases of what not to do.

An example of how to stage a successful military intervention can be found in the British intervention in Sierra Leone named "Operation Palliser."** One of the most salient features of this operation, Collier notes, was that the people wanted the help.

But, he also points out that this is not a necessary pre-requiste for intervention. If stopping a country from devolving into genocide and collapse means ignoring the sovereignty of that nation, so be it. And this is because what happens in that nation will have an impact on the rest of the world. Collier estimates that prolonged and large-scale conflicts in one nation will cost the world somewhere around $100B a year. This, of course, does not include the loss of life through violent death, spreading epidemics and hunger caused by displacement.

Collier does not provide a blue-print for a successful military intervention, but he does state that interventions based on the three categories have a good chance of being successful.

**Read about OperationPalliser in the 'Knowledge' section**