Russia has been embroiled in bitter disputes with major Western powers over high-profile military interventions - over Kosovo (1999), Iraq (2003), Georgia (2008), and even Libya (2011) which had a UN Security Council mandate. Moscow and the West reached much more agreement over the Gulf War (1990) and intervention in Afghanistan (2001), but these cases are exceptional. -- From the publisher.

Military intervention, norms, and the case of Russia -- The Soviet Union and Cold War interventions -- Humanitarian intervention, Kosovo, and beyond: divergent norms -- Afghanistan and the 'Global War on terror': a new basis for consensus? -- Pre-emption, the Iraq War, and the spectre of unconstrained force -- Contested norms in the CIS regional order -- Russian intervention in Georgia 2008 -- Russian global perspectives and contemporary military intervention.