Somalia illustrates mission creep and the perception problem: humanitarian aid intervention expanded toward democratization (bureaucracies expanding their mission to gain power), and delivering aid to one side of a civil war was perceived by rival warring parties as assisting their enemy, causing them to shoot at U.S. forces and forcing the U.S. to either abandon neutrality or exit.

causalpending

Speaker

Christopher Coyne

Evidence Quote

they don't view us as being neutral they view us as assisting the enemy and they shoot at us ... soon thereafter the United States exited

Source

Christopher Coyne on Exporting Democracy after War 04/07/2008EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:29:02 AM

My Notes

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