Is it possible and worthwhile to use the military in conjunction with humanitarian action to thwart violence and mitigate civilian suffering? This timely book seeks to answer this question by looking at the contemporary context and history of military-civilian interactions, developing a framework for assessing military costs and civilian benefits, and examinng in depth seven prominent cases from the 1990s_Northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti, East Timor, and Kosovo. In the wake of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq after September 11, it further examines how multilateral military operations could expand or contract in the future to the benefit or peril of affected populations.