Has Americas foreign policy been successful in the Middle East - Research Paper Example

Has America’s Foreign Policy Been Successful in the Middle East? Thesis ment The foreign policies of the United s that are implemented invarious Middle East nations are duly considered to be full of disrespect (Chomsky, 2010). There are generally two major issues that have been identified in the present foreign policies of America. The first issue is the Palestine conflict, which has not been resolved yet and the second issue is the threat associated with Iran (Alternativeinsight, 2015). However, the existing crisis in the Arabian countries is regarded as the main reason behind the failure of the foreign policies of America (Chomsky, 2010). With this concern, the research paper intends to determine whether the foreign policies of America have been successful in distinct regions of the Middle East. Introduction The foreign policy of America represents the ways of interacting with different overseas nations of the world along with setting standards for interacting with the individual citizens, corporations and organizations (Chomsky, 2010). The prime goal of the US foreign policy is to establish a secure, prosperous and democratic world, which would serve beneficial for the people of America and others as well as who belong to various international countries. In this context, the US has separated foreign policies for the Middle East countries that determine its relation in terms of carrying out effective trade and foreign relations with the same. The strategic interest of the US over the Middle East countries is the major reason behind the formulation and the execution of the foreign policies (Council on Foreign Relations, 2015). Justifiably, Middle East nations have huge deposits of oil and therefore acquiring this product is the main strategic interest of the US. The US foreign policy for the Middle East gained its significance after the end of World War II. During the Cold War, the American foreign policy aimed at preventing the anti-communist regimes of Soviet Union towards the Arab countries (Dow Jones & Company, 2015). However, after the attack of 9/11 in the year 2001, the US foreign policy started concentrating on addressing and mitigating anti-terrorism related activities (Johnson, 2015). The US possesses diplomatic relations with different Middle East countries apart from Iran, as this nation once went with anti-American regime in the year 1979 (Chomsky, 2010). Currently, the US foreign policy in the Middle East has been emphasizing resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict and at the same time restricting the distribution of weapons for mass destruction within the regional countries (Council on Foreign Relations, 2015). Background The relationship between the US and the Middle East countries was limited before the commencement of World War I, even though there were commercial ties during the first half of the 19th century (Alternativeinsight, 2015). The US was considered to be the most respected and popular nations as compared to the European powers, which colonized majority of the Middle East countries during that particular time. Consequently, such nations considered American people as good individuals who were free from duplicity and selfishness. The missionaries of America set up educational institutions and modern medicine along with efficiently skilled petroleum engineers in different countries of Middle East (Dow Jones & Company, 2015). Therefore, prior to the Second World War, there existed better connections between the Middle East countries and the US. The ‘Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement’ and the ‘Redline Agreement’ signed in the year 1928 may be regarded as such instances that reveal the cooperation persisting amid the Middle East countries and the US. These agreements were bounded legally, reflecting the interest of America in controlling energy resources of Middle East countries such as oil (Chomsky, 2010). The prime goal of the Redline Agreement was to create a restriction on petroleum supply and ensure that majority of the American companies were able to control the prices of oil in the global market. Similarly, the American Petroleum Agreement being set up in the year 1944 also aimed at regulating the oil supply of Middle East countries (Alternativeinsight, 2015). The oil generated from Persian countries along with Iraq and Kuwait was meant to be shared amongst different countries of the world and the oil from Saudi Arabia was only made reserved for the United States. The Anglo-American petroleum agreement, which was signed in the year 1944, allowed the distribution of oil belonging to Middle East between Britain and the United States (Pollack, 2015). However, after the end of World War II, the US began to consider Middle East countries to be the strategically significant areas of the world and highly profitable because of their high oil reserves that can be acquired at much cheaper price (Chomsky, 2010). During the first half of 20th century, the Middle East countries were experiencing economic, political and social turmoil. In context to the political viewpoint, the Middle East countries underwent through an extreme popularity of nationalistic political groups as well as parties in almost all the regions that eventually created hindrances for other nations such as France to establish their own colonial powers (The Middle East Forum, 2015). Presentation and Analysis There is no doubt that the foreign policy being developed by America has been serving beneficial for the welfare of the nation and establishing relations with other foreign countries. However, there has been a great controversy regarding whether America’s foreign policy for the Middle East countries has been successful (Dow Jones & Company, 2015). The two significant issues being identified in the Americas foreign policies include the potential threats with Iran and the unsettled conflicts with Palestine. Majority of the issues related to the foreign policies of America is related to military threats that may place America in danger. However, the threat of Iran does not refer to the military threat, as the country possesses low capacity of military force (The Middle East Forum, 2015). In addition, the military spending of Iran is also quite negligible as compared to the military spending of the US. The threat with Iran can be related to the fact that the country has been engaging itself in weakening its neighboring countries. Among the countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran has been focusing on influencing its neighboring countries by enhancing the level of violence. This resulted into destabilizing the economy of foreign countries, which may serve as a potential threat for the US (Alternativeinsight, 2015). This is because the US had to depend on different foreign countries for sufficing dissimilar requirements such as import of raw materials and finished products from those respective nations. It is expected that if the economic conditions of such countries deteriorate, it will impact negatively on the US, since the foreign countries would become less capable enough to provide required products or services to the US as per the necessity. Another major problem with Iran is that the country actively supports terrorism, which becomes a potential threat for the US to establish foreign relations with the same (Dow Jones & Company, 2015). However, there is a long on-going conflict between the two countries i.e. Palestine and Israel and thus the US has been implementing strategies along with measures to settle the same. It certainly became difficult for the US to stop the conflict, as it already taken the form of violence (Chomsky, 2010). Moreover, the countries i.e. Palestine and Israel also hold the perception that the US is against them and therefore it is encouraging rivalry to persist amid the same. Therefore, it is evident that the US foreign policies in the Middle East possess various security issues that might erupt as a potential threat for America in establishing foreign relations with different Middle East countries (Dow Jones & Company, 2015). Due to the existence of open trade, the risk of filtration of terrorist groups from the Middle East countries to the US has become quite high. The attack of 9/11 has shaken the whole world wherein the terrorist groups of certain Middle East countries were deemed to be involved. In the attack, thousands of people working in the World Trade Centre in America lost their lives when two passenger aircrafts hijacked by terrorist groups hit the Trade Centre (The Middle East Forum, 2015). After the incident, the security measures of the US were strengthened and the respective government became highly strict in reforming the practices relating to infiltration of the foreigners in the nation (Alternativeinsight, 2015). In the ongoing debate regarding whether the US foreign policy designed for the Middle East countries is a success or failure, majority of the evidences presented the notion that it was a failure. Bush and Obama administrations were highly considered in order to ascertain the actual situation of America’s foreign policy in the nations of Middle East (Johnson, 2015). From the viewpoint of Bush administration, it was found that since the previous 60 years, America has imposed stability on democracy, which highly hampered its relation with different foreign countries including Middle East. During the time of Bush administration, there was a separate rationale formulated in context to dealing with war on terror and Al-Qaida (The Middle East Forum, 2015). The rationale demonstrated that the promotion of democracy would be the most effective way of competing with other nations and thereby gain victory over the struggle. On the other hand, during the Obama Administration, the supporters along with their President focused on disassociating their foreign policy approach, which was then formulated during Bush administration (Johnson, 2015). In accordance with the viewpoints of various politicians, the democracy promotion was considered to have taken the form of dirty politics, as it was combined together with the approach of Bush Administration in order to bring about significant changes in the countries of Middle East including Iraq (Johnson, 2015). As a result of the Arab Spring, certain changes can be apparently noted in the foreign policy strategy of Obama Administration while actively promoting democracy globally. As per the foreign policy, the American values were considered not to be imposed on the Middle East countries that would prevent in undertaking any blame or allegation made against the countries. Ensuring the American foreign policies to attain greater level of success, it is thus essential for the US to be humble and increase responsibility towards serving better for the countries of Middle East (The Middle East Forum, 2015). However, from the overall perspective of the American foreign policy, it can be ascertained that execution of such policy has been a great failure for the Middle East countries. There are certain acts conducted by the US such as directly intervening the Middle East countries along with invading Iraq with fraudulent intention that certainly created discrepancies with such nations since years (Johnson, 2015). Based on the findings derived, it can be stated that there are three major provisions that help in understanding the foreign policy framework of the US towards the Middle East countries. These provisions include: The dominant power of America in establishing relationships with different countries of the world The readiness of the Western countries towards believing anything about the countries of Middle East The perception of America regarding the superiority of the people as well as the countries of Middle East Conclusions From the overall analysis and discussion, it can be ascertained that their lay mixed perceptions about the success of America’s foreign policy in the Middle East. By considering the effectiveness of the foreign policies, the US is able to tie up with the Middle East countries and likewise obtained favorable trading facilities. This highly contributes into ensuring wider economic development of the nation. However, there also exist certain other potential areas where the failure of America’s foreign policy is witnessed in the Middle East countries. In this similar concern, one of such major areas of failure can be reckoned as the objective of America in stabilizing such countries through the institutionalization of democratic governments and eliminating Islamic terrorism from the US. The threat from various Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaida has contributed towards the failure of the foreign policy of America in the Middle East countries. In addition, the nuclear threat from Iran and the instability of Iraq also contributed much towards the failure of the US foreign policy in the nations of Middle East. Thus, in conclusion, it can be affirmed that in order to ensure successful application of foreign policy in the Middle East, America needs to address and mitigate the shortcomings that might get appear while restructuring and executing such policy for generating favorable outcomes. References Alternativeinsight. (2015). Failures of U.S. Foreign Policy - 1946 to 2015. Retrieved from http://www.alternativeinsight.com/Foreign_Policy_Failures.html Chomsky, N. (2010). US Foreign Policy in the Middle East. Retrieved from http://chomsky.info/20100525/ Council on Foreign Relations. (2015). The Globalization Of Politics: American Foreign Policy For A New Century. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/world/globalization-politics-american-foreign-policy-new-century/p6330 Dow Jones & Company. (2015). The Failed Grand Strategy In The Middle East. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324619504579028923699568400 Johnson, R. (2015). Views Diverge On U.S. Middle East Policy In Lund Debate. Retrieved from http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/views-diverge-us-middle-east-policy-lund-debate Pollack, K. M. (2015). U.S. Policy toward a Turbulent Middle East. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/testimony/2015/03/24-us-policy-middle-east-pollack The Middle East Forum. (2015). The Middle East Forum. 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