Introduction
U.S has used various methods to establish itself as one of the policemen of the world. This paper seeks to critique the main points of the prior submitted paper on thesis and outline of how the country has used its military to affect the affairs of other countries. Notably, as U.S received an elevated status as a world power, it also grew to a dominant power in international relations. This is due to the fact that in numerous occasions, U.S military has acted as ‘global police’ through its military activities to change other countries.
International events from the past five years that can be traced back to a foreign policy created after the Civil War
The first major event involved the U.S military intervention in Iraq and having Sadaam Hussein sentenced. Circumstances of excessive criminal violence and instability forced the U.S to deploy its forces to bring peace in the war-torn country. In keeping with Hawkins et al (2012), the U.S military activities have also played a big role in ensuring the indigenous Iraqi police are well trained and equipped to deal with insecurity and criminal activities in the country.
According to Johnson et al (2011), the U.S has implemented its ‘policeman’ role by its aim to end the dominance of Taliban in Afghanistan. The U.S took it as its responsibility to bring normalcy in the country by ending the dominance of the Taliban militia. In an exceptional move, the U.S also funded the arming and a training program for the Afghanistan police to continue with the fight against Taliban activities.
Aspects of US history since 1865 that has led to the US’s rise as a world super power policeman.
The main aspect is the economic dominance of the country in the global economy. Keller et al (2010) stipulate that U.S has established itself as the main funder of military policing. The world economic depression and WW1 gave the country a chance to regain economic strength ahead of other world countries thus growing into a dominant force.
Secondly, U.S has shown a lot of maturity and influence politically. President Roosevelt called upon the U.S to become democratic and demonstrate compassion to allied nations through lending and leasing of property. The lend-lease bill was established in 1941 and it helped U.S position itself as a leader in world politics.
Finally, the country has grown into a military superpower by aligning herself with other nations. An example is during the 1941 Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor; the U.S military sided with allied nations in the war. With such allies, the U.S was able to end Nazism and establish democracy.
International incidents since World War II where America has taken on a policing role
The first major incident is the 1973 military involvement in Chile. In accordance with Cornejo et al (2014), the Chilean military was based on a Prussian model that could effectively arrange and execute a coup. However, it was believed that Chilean military required assistance to execute a coup and U.S engineered the mission of overthrowing Allende to improve democracy in the country.
In the early years of the 21st century, U.N mission to stop fighting in Somali failed and the U.S remained willing and steadfast of getting involved in the attempt to stop the standoff. The military attempted to provide humanitarian deeds in the country to fight the Al-shabaab militia and bring stability.
Lastly, the U.S military involvement in the Vietnam War proved the country’s determination in playing a policing role. Though the mission failed miserably, the attempts by U.S to fight against communism, remove forced dictatorship and promote democracy could not go unnoticed. The war remains decisive in the military and political decisions of the U.S, Australia and Europe due to the big failure of the mission.
Driving forces that fueled outlined international policy decisions
The first fundamental purpose of U.S getting involved in international policy is due to her willingness and steadfastness to bring democracy in the world. This was evident in the cases where it was involved in overthrowing of Benito Mussolini of Italy, Salvador Allende of Chile and Joseph Stalin of USSR. This was a proof that United States felt it had a commitment to ensure democracy prevailed in all nations of the world (Boyle, 2011).
The U.S has a status of a world superpower. This has provided it with a self-bestowed role of helping other nations to change their democracy and stability status for the better. This has acted as another driving force in its attempt to ensure all world nations are stable. An example is the U.S military involvement in Iraq to capture Sadaam Hussein. This helped change governance and improve democracy in the country.
Finally, the U.S is involved in the global peace keeping initiative. This has bestowed on it a part to play in global peacekeeping. Nevertheless, U.S has encountered a challenge in determining how much effort it should put in this initiative. Arguably, it is evident that U.S has played a big part in the initiative which has encouraged it to play a big part in international policing (Yamashita, 2012).
References
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Cornejo, M., Reyes, M. J., Cruz, M. A., Villarroel, N., Vivanco, A., Caceres, E., & Rocha, C. (2014). Histories about the chilean military dictatorship through generational voices.
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Johnson, G., Ramachandran, V., & Walz, J. (2011, May). The Commanders Emergency Response Program in Afghanistan & Refining US Military Capabilities in Stability and In-Conflict Development. In USMA Senior Conference XLVIII http://www. dean. usma. edu/sosh/senior_ conference/sc_papers/Ramachandran% 20EE% 20final (Vol. 205, No. 2019, p. 202011).
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Yamashita, H. (2012). Peacekeeping Capacity-building Assistance: The Role of the Group of Eight (G8). NIDS journal of defense and security, (13), 39-52.
