Effect of the US Democracy on the Ones of Israel and Yemen - Research Paper Example

How the Evolution of Democracy in the United s has affected the Emergence of Democracies in Israel and Yemen. Course: Date: The United States of America acts as a model nation for many of the developing and some of the less developed nations of the world on various issues such as the practice of democracy and free statehood. America is a mature democracy and for that matter the second largest democracy in the world after India. The nation despite being the world’s superpower, has over the years been regarded as the trendsetter for many emerging issues in the modern world, ranging from technological advancement to safeguard of human rights in its operations (Rosati and Scott, 2011). Moreover, internationally the country has maintained a steady path on Democratic gains because it embraces fundamental freedoms, which allow citizens and rights groups to put the government into accountability on issue touching on the welfare of the general public. Fundamentally, the U.S. is regarded as one of the most advanced societies as far as democracy is concerned even though it has been facing evolution in its democratic space, occasioned by different regimes that have come into power (Pillar, 2001). Conversely, democracy in the United States of America has been evolving over the years to align itself it with the country’s foreign policy. For instance, during the administration of George W. Bush, the nation stepped up the call for democratic modes of governance in developing countries especially those in Asia, to enable to implement its foreign policy to a region perceived to be anti-America (Rosati and Scott, 2011). Israel has been one of the longest allies of America in the Middle East and it has rose to its current status due to immense investment that the US government has poured into the nation, to safeguard it from neighbouring Islamist nations that want to wipe it off. After the Second World War the Nazis wanted to eliminate the Jews however, the American government made stringent efforts to ensure Israel is recognized as an independent state and luckily this came to pass due to sympathy from a number of nations that shared the pity of what the Jews had undergone. This happened through a veto vote by USA in the United Nations Security Council that paved way for Israel to be recognized internationally as an independent nation. Conversely, it is imperative to note that the journey of the long story of bilateral relations between the Unites States of America and Israel begun from the very moment the country attained autonomous status of being an independent nation (Dye and Zeigler, 2003). The American government extended a lot of resources to Israel in terms of capital and military personnel to help the country reconstruct and build a modern world democracy in the midst of Islamist nations that were under autocratic regimes that had infringed fundamental rights of their citizens for ages (Pillar, 2001). Despite the massive capital investments that the US government made to Israel to ensure it stabilizes as a modern democracy, this was part of the America’s foreign policy to utilize Israel as a gateway to influence the Islamist governments in the Middle East. Given the fact that Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab nations that have engaged it in numerous wars as a result of territorial disputes the US army has often played a vital role in ensuring support for Israel and its territory is maintained. Thus, Israel was adopted as a son of the U.S. government and over a short period of time with the blessings and privileges that it enjoyed from Washington, despite the regional obstacles and challenges that it faced, the nation rose to be a force in the Middle East that made her enemies wary; resulting in the Arab nations ganging up to form a force that could shake the immense power that USA injected into the small nation of Israel (Bimber, 2003). In addition, neighbouring nations such as Lebanon and Palestine were against the nationalization of Israel and because of that the countries have waged numerous wars and conflicts with Israel over territories and boundaries; situations that have led to loss of many lives and property because of intense wars. In addition, because Israel was founded on an American democratic ideology despite it embracing a free political system that offers equal opportunities to its subjects, the country adopted an America fashion in its foreign policy whereby it would do whatever it takes to safeguard it interests. This has seen the nation flexing its military superiority to its neighbours by waging them in numerous conflicts to take up territories (Rosati and Scott, 2011). Therefore, because of all these conflicts, human rights atrocities have been committed but the government turns a blind eye; claiming it is safeguarding its territories. The Bush administration (2001-2008), for instance, supported Israel in its conflict with Lebanon by providing military support in terms of weapons and intelligence reports that ensured Israel wins the conflict. However, some nations were not happy with the kind of atrocities that were committed and thus, decided to offer support to the enemies of Israel to enable them wage counter attacks to safeguard their people (Bimber, 2003). In essence the kind of democratic practices that is present in America has been adopted in Israel and despite the countries priding themselves as champions of human rights, they engage in acts that are against their principles when it comes to safeguarding their interest especially in their foreign policy. I would argue that, since Israel was ideally founded on the principles and ideologies of the American democratic system’s influence, the American democratic system was engraved in the current system of Israel’s administration and thus, the reason nation is engaging in its brutal style of approaching its enemies. Therefore, Israel has over the years failed to engage its enemies in diplomatic talks to end stalemates but rather resorts to issuing ultimatums and waging wars that infringe on the rights and freedoms of citizens of those nations (Rosati and Scott, 2011). The situation in Yemen is quite different from the case of Israel since Yemen is among the countries in the Middle East that for many years have used autocratic rule without any democratic space in their governance. The Arab world has been characterized with dictatorship since most of the regimes that are set up are actually monarchs that pass power to their preferred successors without seeking the public opinion through free and fair elections. The administration of President George W Bush formulated a foreign policy that sought to engage a number of Arab countries to leverage from their oil deposits in terms of bilateral trade (Bimber, 2003). Thus, to actualize these and meet her interest, the government engaged in activities that would streamline the rule in Arab nation to allow for democratic space to avoid international condemnation. This culminated to the government funding a number of NGOs in those nations that were aimed at sensitizing the public on the need and importance of democracy while at the same time, acting as government watchdogs in matters regarding to free societies. A number of societies embraced the system but some remained resisted the system and remained in the autocratic rule with less regard to the democratic style of governance that was receiving international momentum. Yemen unlike other Gulf States is a small nation with very little resources to exploit; actually its oil reserves are not enough to cater for its individual. Due to that fact, the American government initially had little foreign interest in the nation since its bilateral relations with Gulf nations were solely to strengthen trade (Pillar, 2001). However, the interest of the US government in Yemen grew when the threat of terrorism increased especially after the 9/11. The American government had to reconsider it is foreign policy especially with the countries in the Middle East since it had to take a new approach to curbing the issue of terrorism. After the September 2001 attack on world trade centre, U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan as well as Iraq with the intention of flushing out terror groups that were plying in those nations, by using friendly nations as strategic sites to launch retaliatory attacks (Rosati and Scott, 2011). In the process, the U.S. made some brisk relations with a number of Arab nations Yemen being one of them, to instil the idea of democratization of countries so as to have a collective fight against terrorism. In the case of Yemen, a number of NGOs were initiated some serving as human right watch groups while others advocated democracy and such issues. The main intention was to sensitize the public in order to facilitate change of regime from the autocratic style of governance that was rampant, to a free society with equal representation. In the process, the American foreign policy seemed to be working well for Washington since the American government started gaining influence in the affairs of Yemen. However, nothing changed in terms of democratic gains but the regime embraced the policies of US government since it was benefiting from it in terms of foreign aid and other technical assistance that it received to better the lives of its citizens (Bimber, 2003). The influence was short lived and did not seem to change much as far as democracy is concerned because Yemenia leaders soon dropped the American policy once the US government launched an offensive war against Iraq with efforts to curb terrorism. Because most of the Arab nations that have vast oil resources are presumed to be sympathizers of terror groups across Asia, they fell out with the American administration including even Yemen (Pillar, 2001). With the dwindling U.S. influence in Yemen administration, foreign aid from America was cut and consequently, the Yemen government shifted focus to fellow Islamist nations such as Saudi Arabia, which offered support to it to sustain the nation. In that light, the dictatorial administration became a major sympathizer of terrorist activities and soon it was host to a number of terror cells that were offering training to suicide bombers with missions across Europe and America. With the determination the US government had towards assisting Israel against her enemies especially the like of Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan the move was not resonated well by Yemen as it was regarded as a technique against Islamic nations. This has drastically affected the relationship between the American government and Yemen. With the current spate of terror attacks Yemen is the perceived base from which the attacks are organized this further tainted the relationship between the two nations thus compromising the past democratic gains the country had achieved. It is prudent to note that despite the American government being founded on democratic ideologies it does not replicate the same when it comes to the policies that it formulates as well as in it is actions. The nation is fond of being a trend setter whereby it demands other nations to follow its course whether it is in line with their principles or not (Rosati and Scott, 2011). With the case of Yemen the democratic influence that the US government was trying to spread was basically a public relation stunt, which was only meant to allow the American administration to penetrate the Arab nation in order to achieve its interests in the region. This is evident from the activities the U.S. government engaged in such as funding NGOs and rights group to champion for the rights of the people. Once the government embraced its ideas, the Democratic calls faded because the U.S. government would broker deals with Yemen administration without taking heed of their rationality. As much as the Yemen government has grown to be a rogue administration under dictatorial leadership for long, the failures can be attributed to the double standards that noble nations took to advance their interests at the expense of the people of Yemen. To date Yemen has never adopted democratic form of governance and it is currently one of the nations that possess a security threat to U.S. as it hosts many terror cells for the terror activities that are on-going in Syria, Iran and the rest of the world (Pillar, 2001). In a nutshell it is prudent to note that the United States of America has evolved from a pure democratic society that safeguarded the rule of law by offering an open style of government that offers equal opportunities to its citizens to a modern state that is less concerned with human rights but does anything to advance its interests. Moreover, its foreign policy is basically out to protect its interests and those of the nations that it has interests in. Today it is evident that both Israel and Yemen despite being influenced by the democratic evolution in the United States of America have not achieved the full democratization status. References Dye, Thomas R, and L H. Zeigler, (2010). The Irony of Democracy: An Uncommon Introduction to American Politics. Bimber, Bruce A. (2003). Information and American Democracy: Technology in the Evolution of Political Power. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Pillar, Paul R. (2001). Terrorism and Us Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C: Brookings Inst. Press. Rosati, Jerel A, and James M. Scott. (2011). The Politics of United States Foreign Policy. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Read More