Anti-Spread of Democracy
There is an ongoing debate in International relations that the world is suffering from democratic meltdowns instead of democratic revolutions (Kurlantzick, 2011). This paper will argue that the United States is damaging the process of democracy by trying to impose the very system that they preach. It will achieve this by analyzing its relations with Iraq, Somalia and Cuba to prove that the spread of democracy is both detrimental and counter productive for these countries and the surrounding geographic areas.
The first example of the USA trying to impose on another country is in Iraq. Growing concern that Saddam Hussein was in possession of Weapons of mass destruction was the catalyst for the US incursion. Additionally, intelligence reports suggested that Saddam’s chemical weapons program had violated the biological weapons convention (BWC) of 1972 (UNODA). Subsequently, operation Iraqi freedom was implemented on the 19th of March 2003 and followed 21 days of intense combat fighting to oust the Ba’athist government (Spring, 2003) . After the government had been overturned the goal was to transform Iraq from its autocratic style of leadership to adopt America’s democratic political system. Since 2003 Iraq has struggled to implement democracy. Constant violence in Iraq and the accusations that top leaders are abusing their government powers has lead to some locals beliefs that they were safer when Saddam was in power (Khalaf, 2013).
Somalia has also suffered as a result of U.S influence. Since 1991 Somalia has been crippled by civil war. During the period that the civil war started The United States was looking to use Ethiopia as a regional base in Africa. Ethiopia is a neighboring country to Somalia and traditionally have been rivals. Due to the political uncertainty and the potential security threats that may arise as a result, Ethiopia received training and support from the U.S to try and overturn the Somali militia. These attempts where met with a huge
The first example of the USA trying to impose on another country is in Iraq. Growing concern that Saddam Hussein was in possession of Weapons of mass destruction was the catalyst for the US incursion. Additionally, intelligence reports suggested that Saddam’s chemical weapons program had violated the biological weapons convention (BWC) of 1972 (UNODA). Subsequently, operation Iraqi freedom was implemented on the 19th of March 2003 and followed 21 days of intense combat fighting to oust the Ba’athist government (Spring, 2003) . After the government had been overturned the goal was to transform Iraq from its autocratic style of leadership to adopt America’s democratic political system. Since 2003 Iraq has struggled to implement democracy. Constant violence in Iraq and the accusations that top leaders are abusing their government powers has lead to some locals beliefs that they were safer when Saddam was in power (Khalaf, 2013).
Somalia has also suffered as a result of U.S influence. Since 1991 Somalia has been crippled by civil war. During the period that the civil war started The United States was looking to use Ethiopia as a regional base in Africa. Ethiopia is a neighboring country to Somalia and traditionally have been rivals. Due to the political uncertainty and the potential security threats that may arise as a result, Ethiopia received training and support from the U.S to try and overturn the Somali militia. These attempts where met with a huge