The Effects of Aggressively Pushing for and Intervening in Sovereign Nations - Essay Example

Merriam Webster defines the word “revolution” as “a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed” (CITE). However, in the societal understanding of the term, the reader expects that the word implies a level and extent of broad support and grass roots support as a means of defining such a change. This growth of the definition is what provides a great deal of confusion to the onlooker. Whereas the Western mind would like to approach the issues extant within the Arab Spring as a function of a popularly supported and monolithic renunciation of totalitarianism in lieu of a democratic organization of governance. Due to the first and appropriate definition of the term revolution, it is readily seen by the reader and/or researcher that the changes that have taken place over the past year and a half as a function of the Arab Spring have indeed been literal revolutions; however, with respect to the assumptions that these revolutions have been popularly supported, grass roots based, and representing a desire to promote democracy over totalitarianism, the answer is slightly less clear and more nuanced. As a result, this brief essay will grapple with the extent to which these revolutions have provided a positive result via the changes they have affected; as well as the extent of the reforms that have consequently been enacted. By way of analysis, the intent of such a study is to provide the reader and/or researcher with a more nuanced and informed perspective regarding the extent to which the changes that have taken place in the Arab world as a result of the revolutions that have taken place have actually changed the power dynamics, in what ways, and whether such has been a net positive or net negative. As discussing such a broad topic as the Arab Spring would require a dissertation length research, this brief analysis will consider the cases of Egypt and Libya as a means of understanding the complexities of these revolutions and the changes they have affected. Prior to the Arab Spring in Egypt, the regime of Hosni Mubarak was one that had lasted for nearly 30 years. Accordingly, the power structure within Egypt at the time that the Arab Spring took place was one in which one individual and his security forces directed nearly every action that the state took. Such an undemocratic process had defined Egyptian politics long before even Mubarak had come to power however. As a result of the corruption and the knowledge that Mubarak was likely to hand his power to his son, thereby creating a type of dynasty, the unease and dissatisfaction among those living in Egypt reached a boiling point and instigated what has become to be known as the Arab Spring. This brief analysis essay will compare some of the positive and negative effects that this Arab Spring has had on Egypt as well as to discuss some of the key changes that have taken place as a result. Firstly, it is this author’s strong belief that the Arab Spring in Egypt has created a fundamentally good thing. Whereas before no level of democratic process typified the way in which the government ruled the people, as a result of the Arab Spring in Egypt, elections have been held, a president has been selected, a constitution drafted, and a representative parliament has been formed. As opposed to before where Mubarak’s dictatorship was a seemingly endless definition of the future of the nation, the people of Egypt are now able to take part in their own right to self determination, sovereignty, and the democratic process (el Faki 1). In this way, the effect of the Arab Spring has been profound in helping a nation to modernize and realize a long held wish that democracy would come to its inhabitants. The cons to such a process of course involve the painful transition to democracy. It is not the argument of this author that such a transition is without it’s drawbacks. Whereas Egypt has been controlled by one form of absolute monarch or dictator for the better part of the past several hundred years, providing a smooth and painless segue into democracy would be all but impossible. As such, some of the cons that have followed the process are the actions of key groups that feel that their rights have not been fully represented to a satisfactory extent within the confines of the democratic system. As such, these individuals have resorted to violence, coercion, and other illegalities as a means of expressing their own unique view. However, as has been stated, such is to be expected within the process of democratization and the untimely end of an absolute dictatorship that had gripped the country for the better part of three decades. In this sense, the onlooker should reasonably expect that the formation of a democratic system will have the requisite growing pains and will not be a seamless process. However, regardless of the means by which one measures the situation that is unfolding in Egypt currently, the fact of the matter is that the average citizen is better represented and has more rights and freedoms currently than were ever experienced under Mubarak. Similarly, the Egyptian government has traditionally operated extensive networks of secret police, informants, and intelligence analysts to work to help manage the issue of terrorism. However, such an approach has severely curtailed the level of freedom that the typical Egyptian citizen has been able to enjoy. Although the purpose of this analysis is not to state that the overall level of terrorism in Egypt has noticed a marked increase or decrease as the result of the Arab Spring, it is however worth mentioning that the perennial threat of Islamic fundamentalists attempting to seize power within the existing structure is one of the fundamental and defining characterizes of the current political/social landscape within the nation. However, the same cannot be said for the revolution that has taken place in Libya. Ever since the tumultuous 1980s when Muammar Gaddafi repeatedly came at odds with US President Ronald Reagan and US foreign policy in the region, the situation in Libya had been quiet (Williams 2012). The war hawks of the Libyan intervention would be quick to point out the prison uprising that was brutally repressed by Gaddafi’s troops back in 2004 as evidence to the contrary; however, from Libya’s perspective, they could easily point to Hurricane Katrina, the LA Riots, and a host of other government mishandling and mishaps to show an equally clueless government that was ineffective in meeting the needs of its populace or handling crises in an even handed manner. Regardless of this fact, NATO was quick to capitalize on what can only be described as a carefully coordinated, nurtured, and organized uprising in Benghazi to promote democracy and work to topple the stable and long-lived government of Libya. It is important to note for the purpose of analysis that the uprisings that took place in Benghazi upon the outset of hostilities between what would become the NTC (National Transitional Council) and Gaddafi forces was likely a carefully groomed, structured and organized rebellion on the part of Western shareholders. Gaddafi himself had long been considered the undependable African leader whose grip on power was near absolute and whose view of the world and level of integration with Europe and the United States had been historically tense. In this way, evidence suggests that the level of protest and demonstration was heavily influenced by third party actors. Whereas the revolution that was experienced in Egypt had a verifiably more non-violent and broad based/grass roots support among the general populace, the revolution in Libya was punctuated by immediate violence by both parties and a general lack of organized peaceful protest. In this way, the reader/researcher can quickly draw a clear level of differentiation between the events that helped to define the Arab Spring in Egypt as opposed to the events that helped to define the Arab Spring in Libya. It is important to note that although this analysis does not support the laundry list of atrocities that Gaddafi is accused of committing, neither does it support an armed intervention in what was Africa’s most stable and prosperous country prior to NATO’s efforts to destabilize it. Libya provides a unique and insightful case of why forced democratization is not the path to pursue. The news media would have had us believe that the entire country was fundamentally against Gaddafi and wanted the dictator gone; however, this could not have been further from the truth. The fact of the matter was that Gaddafi was greatly respected and loved among various segments of society. The leader had invested heavily in the infrastructure of the country, building Libya from practically nothing to what it was 40 years after his rule began. Before Gaddafi there was little if any public services in any but the largest of coastal cities, agriculture was weak, and the oil industry was practically undeveloped. Because of these and a host of other reasons, it took thousands of sorties from hundreds of aircraft representing multiple nations 8 full months to bring the Gaddafi regime to a close (Haggerty 2012). Likewise, the manner in which Gaddafi and his remaining sons were slaughtered combined with the aftermath of the war led many to appropriately question whether the right course of action had been pursued. Gaddafi warned as early as February that elements of al Qaeda were threatening to destabilize the nation and were actively supporting those that sought his overthrow. However, this was unheeded as NATO and others were already preparing for what a post-Gaddafi Libya might look like. One by one, the coastal towns that had been controlled by the Gaddafi regime fell and one by one the flags of al Qaeda replaced the Green Republic flags that had flown over these cities. Again, the West and the news media paid little if any head to these warnings signs (Dettmer 2012, 33). Nearly a year after Gaddafi’s murder and the collapse of his regime, elements of al Qaeda attacked the US Embassy in Benghazi and murdered several of the staff of the embassy. A similar attack had been perpetrated during the Theo van Gogh Mohammed Cartoons back in 2004; however, at that time, Gaddafi dispatched his military to ensure that the embassy of even one of his largest adversaries was protected from the mobs. Sadly, no such force was there to protect the embassy as the US Ambassador as well as a staff member and security detail member were murdered (Kendricks 2012). Currently, Libya is awash with hundreds of thousands of weapons brought in by NATO and its Saudi/Egyptian/Sudanese co-conspirators. Hundreds of militias guard various checkpoints, hassle motorists, and demand bribes for entry and egress from major choke points around cities (Lister 2012). A full year after the war has completed, the previously bustling city of Misrata lies in ruins with none of its former inhabitants daring to return due to fear of reprisals as this city was known to be a staunch supporter of Gaddafi both before and during the war (Jabouri 2012). In short, what has been affected is the utter destruction of a nation. Although this author agrees that totalitarianism is a net evil and further agrees that democratization is a net positive, the effects of aggressively pushing for and intervening in sovereign nations to bring about regime change – even in the name of democracy – is foolish in the extreme. It is likely that Libya will not recover the same economic and societal strength that it had under Gaddafi for quite some time. As such, the balance sheet at the end of this conflict is severely lacking. One the one hand Gaddafi is dead and “democracy” is now available to the people of Libya. On the other, the country has sustained catastrophic damage both to its infrastructure as well as a host of tribal divisions that have all come to the forefront as a result of the revolution. As such, it would be the strong suggestion of this author for the United States to immediately cease and desist from further democratization efforts that call for the violent overthrow of current/functional and legitimate regimes. This suggestion is in part due to the costs (both material and human) of intervention coupled with the fact that the net gain seems to be a diminishing return on overall investment. Through the dichotomy that exists between those two nations and the experience that they have respectively endured during the course of their revolutions, the reader and/or researcher can see to a clearer extent the full nature of the mechanisms, causal factors, procedure, and after effects that these revolutions have indelibly affected for the nations in question. Rather than being tempted to state the Arab Spring revolutions can or should somehow be grouped into an identifying category that can successfully explain each and every revolution under a common rubric of understanding, a better approach, and one that has been argued by this author within this essay, is that each revolution represented its own causal factors, growth mechanisms, motivations, and levels of exterior influence. Going back to the original research question, one can infer that although each and every revolution that has swept the Middle East over the past two years has been what political scientists would broadly categorize as a revolution, the true nature, scope, and level of involvement that has been exhibited has meant that these revolutions have not always ascribed to the sociological understandings that are placed upon them. Reference DETTMER, J 2012, 'So much for the Arab Spring', Maclean's, 125, 38, pp. 32-35, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 10 December 2012. Read More