Abstract

Russian peacekeepers near Kalbajar during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh Interventions in Armed Conflicts: Waning Western Dominance One of the most notable geopolitical trends of the weariness in the domestic discourse. There were last five years has been the growing number of states exceptions, including the US role in the territorial intervening in and shaping conflicts to advance their defeat of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or own foreign policies and strategic agendas. What ISIL) in the Middle East and the US military pres- used to be the preserve of the United States and ence that accompanied efforts to broker an end to the its Western European allies in the post-Cold War war in Afghanistan ahead of its military withdrawal and post-9/11 eras has become a more generalised there. Global counter-terrorism missions remained trend, with powers such as Iran, Israel, Russia, Saudi a US priority, albeit with a smaller military footprint Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) than previous interventions. Notwithstanding these, intervening in multiple conflicts across the world. however, US foreign- and defence-policy priorities These interventions have taken a variety of shifted towards ‘great-power contests’ with China forms, ranging from the