I. Title of Research
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, under Mikhail Gorbachev, the United States has been considered as being the world hegemon. Though many scholars, especially those who embrace the realist point of view, argue that no country can be a world hegemon, the United States plays a great role in influencing global politics. This research intends to look at how the US Military Spending shapes world politics. Some of the aspects within this research question seeks to address include, the countries that are most affected by this policy, the economic and social effects that US military spending has to other countries especially those that depend on the United States for aid, and also the effect of United State’s military spending on global security.
II. Overview of Research
Bearing in mind that security is the first priority for nations within the international system, this paper intends to look at the military spending of the United States to determine whether it can be explained using this realist framework. Over the recent decades the United States has been involved in war with other countries due to the fact that the United States feel threatened by the military moves that given states undertake (Mintz,1992, 47). One of the incidences where the United States was involved in war with another state was in 2003. During this time, the government of the United States believed that Iraq was engaging in the development of weapons of mass destruction. As a member of the UN Security Council, the United States had raised concerns that there was a need for the investigation of whether Iraq was in possession of biological weapons or not. The IAEA, a special body that controls the construction of these weapons, went into Iraq and gave a report that Iraq was not in possession of these weapons. The United States as a realist actor would not believe the finding of the IAEA. The United States proceeded to Iraq even without the full consent of the other members of the Security Council. At the end of the Iraq war the United States still did not find any weapons of mass destruction (Raymond, 2007, p. 194).
The impetus of the United States to participate in the Iraq war was driven by the idea that the United States budgets heavily on the military especially after 9/11. Therefore, the United States always has the military funds even in situations that the nation does not have to necessarily participate. In the recent overthrow of Murmur Kaddafi, during the Arab spring in 2011 that hit North Africa, the United States was also a participant. In this case, the United States had been invited by the Eastern rebels within Libya to help them withdraw the long time dictator, Kaddafi. The United States used its military spending to help bring democracy into the country.
In 1992, under H.W. Bush, the United States sent about 125,000 troops into Somali so as to combat armed gangs that invaded UN humanitarian efforts. Though troops were eventually withdrawn from Somalia in 1994 owing to the concern by Congress that the U.S. troops were exposed to imminent hostilities, the United States military spending was used to initiate humanitarian efforts in an unstable state like Somalia (Herring, 1998, p.79).
III. Positioning of Research
This research aims to take the position that the huge amount of money within the budget of the United States that is allocated to the military is due to the fact that the United States understands that it is exposed to threats as a super-power of the world. Therefore, money allocated for military spending should always be huge so as to combat any emergencies that might result. For instance, case of terrorism in the United States has been a threat to the country’s security. Therefore, military spending has to always be high in that the United States cannot be sure of when to except terrorist attacks. The heightening of security within the United States as a result of increased military spending has been emulated in their counter-terrorism measure (Kegley, 2010, p.146). Therefore, the U.S. military spending has a created a security model that other nations can emulate. This is clear indication that the U.S. Military spending affects the politics of other nations.
Another important way in which the United States’ military spending affects world politics is that the United States uses its military spending to spread democracy across the world. A good example of such a case is Libya. The United States played a key role in helping Eastern rebels within Libya to oust Kaddafi from power. This also accounts the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In this case, the United States was trying to contain communism from spreading into Vietnam. Though the United States lost in the war to the communist, this war is a clear demonstration of how the United States uses it military spending to spread democracy across the world. In addition, the case of the U.S. involvement in Somalia indicates that the United States also uses its military spending to protect human rights across the world thereby affirming the U.S.leadership role in world politics.
IV. Research Design and Methodology
This research is going to involve the analysis of the trends of the U.S. involvement in various wars and the reasons behind this involvement. This research also intends to look at major case studies of the wars in which the United States has participated. In these case studies, this research will look at the amount of mainly that went into these wars and whether the subsequent federal budgets increased their amount of money going to the military. In addition, this research will also look at the current military spending to determine whether military budgets are likely to be raised or cut in the future and the effect this is going to have on world politics and justice. This is because Obama is beginning to rethink the military spending and has been advocating for a cut in military expenditure (BuMiller, 2012, p.3).
Reference List
BuMiller, E. (2012). Obama Puts His Stamp on Strategy for a Leaner Military. Available: http://www.nytimes.com. Last accessed 3rd Mar 2012.
Doyle, M. (1986). Liberalism and world politics. The American Political Science Review. 80 (4), p1151-1169.
Herring, E (1998). The arms dynamic in world politics. London, United Kingdom: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. p.78-81.
Joerding, W. (2002). Economic Growth and Defense Spending: Granger Causality. Journal of Development Economics. 21 (1), p35-40.
Kegley, C (2010). World Politics: Trend and Transformation, 2010 - 2011 Edition. Boston, Massachusetts: Wadworth Cengage Learning.p145-151.
Mintz, A (1992). The Political economy of military spending in the United States. New York: Routledge Publishers. p46-49.
Raymond, G (2007). The Global Future: A Brief Introduction to World Politics. London, United Kingdom: Thomson Learning, Inc. p193-197.
