Lvl 4: Waging War For Democracy Promotion

          There is a huge controversy over the promotion of democracy, mainly because sometimes the promotion of democracy from the US is motivated by self-gains, and not for the will or rights of the governed, and thus lead to foreign nations not gaining anything from embracing democracy and then developing a sense of distrust and hatred towards the United States. Terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS that spawn from countries that the US have interfered with are a direct result of promoting democracy with selfish motivations. These groups don’t necessarily hate democracy, but because democracy is heavily associated with American culture and ideology, they try to reject and destroy it since they don’t like America. Our past actions in meddling with other countries’ governments have given us a bad reputation, in that we only promote democracy to project our power and using other countries to benefit ourselves. This creates a problem because other countries will be less willing to trade with us or become an ally to us if we are ever in need. The US could have the potential to be isolated in politics, creating a dangerous situation to our country.

          Democracy is not a bad thing, but it is not the only form of government that can work, nor does it suit every single country. For example, democracy is supposed to be the best form of government to boost the economy, but China also has a growing economy despite being communist. America’s way of promoting democracy may also not be the most effective way of achieving it. The use of military force to force democracy onto another country is most of the time unnecessary and unjustified, unless it is to provide aid to the citizens of a country looking to end a tyranny or an inhumane form of government. For example, because of the famine and injustice created by the system of government in North Korea, the US would be mostly justified if they sent military forces to save the lives of many North Koreans. Ultimately, the use of military force should be a last resort. International organizations are usually more useful in promoting democracy, so countries can make the choice of change by themselves, and have enough resources to fight injustices that are present. 

References and Works Cited

http://www.cfr.org/democratization/promoting-democracy-whys-hows-united-states-international-community/p24090