The decision whether or not to commit military forces in a humanitarian, crisis management, or peacekeeping capacity by NATO or the European Union is often accompanied by external calls for intervention. This paper investigates the nature and impact of external demand for deployment of European Union or NATO military forces. How strong is the relative pull of political figures in crisis countries, regional actors, and the United Nations for prompting Western military operations? Are there significant differences in the responsiveness of the EU and of NATO to these external demands for action? To identify characteristics and gauge the influence of external demand this paper examines all potential and actual EU and NATO deployments over a fifteen year period and uses a number of analytical factors, such as economic indicators, incidence of conflict and natural disasters, and proximity to the West.
