CIAO DATE: 07/03

Democracy and Military Intervention: Challenges and Opportunities

Introduction

The Bush administration entered office skeptical of using the U.S. military to build democracy. Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's National Security Advisor, wrote before the election that: "The President must remember that the military is a special instrument. It is lethal, and it is meant to be. It is not a civilian police force. It is not a political referee. And it is most certainly not designed to build a civilian society." Despite this skepticism, policing, building a civilian society, and other tasks inherent to democratization were quickly thrust upon the Bush administration. Even before the fall of the Taliban, the United States and its allies began trying to shape a new government to take power in Kabul. And today, as the United States and its allies move to topple Saddam's regime, they are grappling with how to create a stable and democratic future for Iraq.

Afghanistan and Iraq indicate that the Bush administration is continuing one notable foreign policy trend of the 1990s: the use of intervening military forces to build democracy on politically infertile ground. In the Balkans, East Timor, Somalia, and elsewhere the United States, other major powers, and the international community have tried—with varying degrees of success—to intervene and establish power sharing systems despite these countries' histories of strife and deep communal divisions.

The question of whether intervening powers can help establish democracy through military intervention touches on some of the most fundamental issues in political science: What are the necessary conditions of democracy? How can deep divisions among communities be overcome? Can outsiders impose a political order that locals have failed to create for themselves? What is the potential and what are the limits of intervention?

This essay assesses the feasibility of outside powers installing a democracy in divided societies and suggests ways to increase the chances that pluralism will take root. Iraq is used as an illustrative case for applying past lessons and insights drawn from social science theory.

Full Text (PDF, 41 pages, 255 KB)