The recent American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan has revived interest in the outcomes of military occupation, which is the most extreme form of alien rule. In contrast to annexation and colonialism, in this chapter military occupation refers to a type of alien rule that is imposed on the native society by a foreign power and that the international community refuses to recognize as constituting permanent sovereign control.

The histories of military occupation in country after country have often been unhappy. Occupation is derided because it entails a high risk of loss for the bulk of the unfortunates who are subjected to it. It also ushers in boundless uncertainty; this is why people flee the impending arrival of an occupying army en masse. It raises fundamental questions about whose justice will rule the land. The common expectation is that it will not be the native’s justice. If alien soldiers confiscate or destroy native private property, will the alien rulers be motivated to seek justice? If occupying soldiers rape native women, will the occupying authorities step in to halt the practice? If most people dislike uncertainty, they are also quite averse to the prospect of certain loss (Kahneman and Tversky 1979). Especially for native elites, occupation typically results in the certain loss of their authority.