In response to the likelihood that the United States will, in the foreseeable future, deploy its armed forces to defend new and/or unstable democratic governments that face violent internal threats, experts of varied backgrounds assess the challenges that will result from this deployment and examine relevant experiences of some key foreign nations.

U.S. military forces are increasingly involved in peacekeeping missions around the world, and this new role raises the prospect of confrontation with guerrilla movements, combat for which troops are largely untrained. This book contains analyses of past and present conflicts involving the American military, not only the Vietnam experience but also more recent involvement in El Salvador and Somalia, each of which has provoked great controversy on the domestic front. The contributors also consider the experiences of other countries in meeting such threats: Russia's dangerously unstable democracy, Peru's successful efforts to defeat a notorious insurgency, and Japan's continuing reluctance to send even token military forces outside its own borders. These issues will continue to engage and challenge American society long into the next millennium.