REPATS, Brasília/Brazil, Special Issue, n.02, Jul-Dec, 2019 ISSN: 2359-5299 E-mail: repats.editorial@gmail.com 19 REPATS, Brasília/Brazil, Special Issue, nº 02, p. 19-35, Jul-Dec., 2019. Original Paper Received: April 30, 2019 Accepted: July 19, 2019 Military Intervention and the Destabilization of Target States Kaitlyn Rose * Hanna Samir Kassab ** Abstract This article examines the use of foreign military intervention (FMI) through the international relations theory of liberalism. As intra-state conflict is becoming increasingly transnational in nature, FMI has become a powerful foreign policy tool in the post-Cold War era. Often, the use of military intervention is aimed to promote liberal democracy and humanitarian values. This often requires a dynamic change to the target state’s centralized power structure. In turn, this transfer of power has repeatedly allowed for long-standing power vacuums to emerge. In academia, FMI should not be examined as a single event phenomenon; therefore, this article uses a qualitative approach when examining the cases of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria to provide a more encompassing detail of the intended and unintended consequences of FMI, as well as prospects for the future of these nations, all of which have been plagued by civil strife, violence, and human rights violations in recent years. Keywords: Military Intervention; Responsibility to Protect, Democratic Peace Theory, Liberalism, Power Vacuum * Department of Political Science, East Carolina University, USA (roseka16@students.ecu.edu) ** Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, East Carolina University, USA (hskassab@gmail.com)