Religious causes of international intervention in ethnic conflicts

Ethnic conflict international intervention have become increasingly important items on the international agenda since the end of the Cold War.Yet not all ethnic conflicts attract international intervention.While there are clearly other important motivations for international intervention, this study focuses on the influence of one of them: religion. Are religious conflicts perceived as more important to potential inter venors? Do those who intervene have religious affinities with the ethnic minorities on whose behalf they intervene? The results of this analysis find support for these relationships. Religious conflicts attract more political intervention by foreign governments kindred groups to the minority living elsewhere. Intervening states are likely to have populations that are religiously similar to those minorities on whose behalf they intervene. Also, religious conflicts involving Christian Moslem minorities attract military intervention by foreign governments about ten times as often as conflicts involving other religious minorities. These groups also attract more political intervention by kindred groups living elsewhere, whereas minorities that are not Christian or Moslem attract more intervention by NGOs multi-state organizations.