Interventionism, in international politics, is the interference of a state or group of states into the domestic affairs of another state for the purposes of coercing that state to do something or refrain from doing something. The intervention can be conducted through military force or economic coercion. A different term, economic interventionism, refers to government interventions into markets at home.
Military intervention, which is a common element of interventionism, has been defined by Martha Finnemore in the context of international relations as "the deployment of military personnel across recognized boundaries for the purpose of determining the political authority structure in the target state". Interventions may be solely focused on altering political authority structures, or may be conducted for humanitarian purposes, or for debt collection. The 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States provides that "no state has the right to intervene in the internal or external affairs of another." The General Assembly of the United Nations has condemned (with one abstaining and no dissenting vote) "armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements."
