Democracy and Security

Democracy is delicate, especially in nations that are transitioning into a more democratic form of governance. The United States entered Iraq under the pretense that the country had been using or possessed weapons of mass destruction. The goal was to topple the Taliban in hopes of instituting a democracy. Democracies are fragile to begin with, and have toppled in more stable states than Iraq, which is considered a weak state. In other nations it has used proxies to attempt to disrupt economic security, or encouraged assassination of leaders or a coup d’état. Democracy can’t be used as a Bandaid; it’s not a quick fix to oppressive regimes. It has the potential to be more devastating for a nation than helpful, but this is commonly overlooked by first-world countries that are stable enough to support a democracy. A democracy cannot be sustained by people who reject its core principles, as the system relies on consensus to be successful in governance.

Democratic peace theory states that democratic nations tend to avoid military conflict with each other. The use of torture and overlooking international law by the US during the Iraq war does not help achieve the goal of peace, and shedded a negative light on the US as a overbearing superpower. The peace theory is advantageous for any nation that is a democracy, but it vilifies nations that are not democratic. According to National Geographic, about a half-million Iraqi citizens died during the war. While pursuing motives for democracy promotion out of self-interest, the US failed to consider the safety of citizens in Iraq. The terrorist network is global and not confined to borders. It is a modernized type of warfare that the US has not seen before, and the boots on the ground approach did not effectively target “The War on Terror.” Engaging in military conflict to avoid military conflict proved unsuccessful for the US in the Iraq war.

A state has the ability to frame security issues and determine what falls under the category of national security. According to Ole Wæver in Securitization and Desecuritization, a speech act “moves issues into a security frame so as to achieve effects different from those that would ensue if handled in a nonsecurity mode.” Is the War on Terror’s main purpose security, or is it a title that allows the US to expand its power without the limits of individual liberties? The Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) has been extended by congress even though the 9/11 attack happened 15 years ago. It gives the president sweeping military power, including the use of drones. Drones have targeted American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki overseas, and a few American citizens have been killed accidentally. Drone attacks do not allow the accused the right to a fair trial, which is something the American judicial system prides itself on. Drone attacks eliminate the deaths of American citizens, but there is much less accountability for deaths of foreign citizens. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and yet the US continued to fight in Iraq for a decade. It is likely that the US went into Iraq in order to take control of the country’s vast amounts of oil. States can misuse their power over national security to set agendas for political advantage.

While in the US democratic consensus is highly valued, this may not be the norm for every nation. Western values can’t be forced on a society that doesn’t agree with them. Overthrowing a government with military force in foreign nations is not usually recepted well by the country’s people. In What ISIS Women Want by Simon Cottee, an Islamic woman was asked about her rejection of feminism. She replied, “Islam has given all my rights to me as a woman and I feel liberated, I feel content and equal in society and all.” Not all citizens feel oppressed in what the United States deems to be an oppressive regime. Americans consider Islamic women to be “brainwashed” by their oppressive leaders, but many Islamic women don’t view their society in this way and overall accept the role of females in their culture as natural. Democracy should be an option for everyone, but it is not likely that it will be accepted by everyone.

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Cottee, Simon. “What ISIS Women Want.” Foreign Policy, 17 May 2016. http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/17/what-isis-women-want-gendered-jihad/.

Vergano, Dan. “Half-Million Iraqis Died in the War, New Study Says.” National Geographic, 16 Oct 2013. Accessed 26 Sep 2016. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131015-iraq-war-deaths-survey-2013/.

Wæver, Ole . “3. Securitization and Desecuritization.” On Security: (1995). https://ciaonet.org/book/lipschutz/lipschutz13.html.