In political science, there are three levels of analysis, individual level, which is people make policy, state level is where the state makes policy and the system level which is the international arena where behaviors are encouraged or discouraged (Dooley & Patten 337). The three systems can be applied to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was believed then that Iraq and Saddam Hussein were a threat to the peace o the United States and the world because it was alleged to support Al-Qaida and the 9/11 attacks.
When the system level of analysis is put into perspective in this case, it becomes clear that power imbalances had a role to play in the invasion. The US is a powerful nation that used its position to exert pressure and invade Iraq because it is weaker to it. Together with the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland, they exerted pressure on Iraq to abide by their demands, something Saddam Hussein was not willing to do, and hence, the war.
On the state level of analysis, there was popular belief, spearheaded but the presidency and the army that Iraq was a threat to the peace and stability of the US and the world and so, they hoodwinked the public to believe it was true (Barrington 29). According to the US constitution, there are rights that all Americans are supposed to enjoy. If anyone seems to threaten them, the state is supposed to act in order to protect them. It is against this background that the US went on to invade Iraq, especially after 9/11.
At the individual level of analysis, it was President George W. Bush’s decision to go into to Iraq and disarm the said dissidents of arms of mass destructions and to end the reign of Saddam Hussein who was alleged to support terrorism (Barrington 98). The president and his administration made the decision and even called on the leaders of Poland, Australia and United Kingdom to join in the war, which they did.
Works Cited
Barrington, Lowell. Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print
Dooley, Kevin, & Patten, Joseph. Why Politics Matters: An Introduction to Political Science. Belmont, Cengage Learning, 2012. Print
