American foreign policies shape events everywhere in the world. These policies have had the most impact in the Middle East. This is a region of persistent instability and a colossal strategic significance. The Israel Lobby and U.S Foreign Policy journal by Mearsheimer and Walt talk about the American Israel relationship. As shown by Mearsheimer and Walt (30), “the combination of unwavering U.S support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and also jeopardized U.S security”. Therefore, it is evident that the U.S through its policies is trying to build up democracy but still adopts policies that jeopardize the security of its people by advancing the interest of Israel. The article articulates the policies in this region to domesticate politics and particularly the actions of the Israel lobby. This has further created an opinion that the interests of the U.S and Israel are identical.
This article bases most of its facts on the Israel lobby but does not focus more on the effects of the foreign policy on the whole region. It displays a lot of information on the American Israel interests to the extent that it does not exhaustively clarify the diplomatic achievements of the American policies in the region.
This gap can be filled by shading light on the effects the American Israel ties have caused. This should be highlighted to show evidence of shortcomings in these policies.
The article by Francis Fukuyama (America at the Crossroads), is mostly about the American policy in the Middle East and particularly Iraq after September 11. It highlights American democracy, its power together with its neoconservative inheritance bend towards extreme actions. The author in this article was not of the idea of the war against Iraq. These policies were put in place after Iraq under Saddam, blocked U.N weapon inspectors and the subsequent Sept 11 attacks. According to Fukuyama (8), “this was supposed to be a long-term strategy toward the war on terrorism”. It was given enormous support by neoconservatives in their so-called “Democratic Realism: An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World” (Fukuyama, 9).
This article thinks that neo-conservatism responsible for the U.S foreign policies in Iraq is a political representation and body of thought that is rather extreme in executing its mandate.
This is because, after the war, no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
What the author does not state, however, are the exact policies and their impacts on Iraq and its citizens. As much as these policies tend to favor the U.S, some of them might be of great benefit to Iraq and this is what I will elucidate on.
In the article “U.S Democracy Promotion in the Arab Middle East Since Sept 11, 2001”, Dalacoura states that the U.S’s foreign policies in the Middle East were coined for the sole purpose of democratic promotion and particularly with unprecedented forcefulness.
Delacour (963), states that democracy, is a “key-principle in neo-conservatism that dominated the Bush administration; and that, the policy consensus in the Bush administrations has been fostering democracy in the Middle-East draining the pool from which terrorist organizations draw recruits in their global struggle against the U.S”
The author specifically states the importance of these policies by showing the usefulness of democracy in dispute settlement. The U.S through its policies has indeed tried to foster democracy in the Middle East through aid and the creation of NGOs (MEPI & BMENA), what has not been shown in this article, however, is the use of force that the very policies support. More frequently, where these policies have failed, the U.S uses force to achieve its goals and this is what I will emphasize. I will also show that these policies tend to favor Israel as a U.S ally.
Works cited
Dalacoura, Katerina. U.S Democracy Promotion in the Arab Middle East since 2001: A Critique. International Affairs, 81, 5: 963-979, 2005. Print.
Fukuyama, Francis. America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative legacy. London. Yale University Press, 2006. Print.
Mearsheimer, John & Walt, Stephen. The Israel Lobby and U.S Foreign Policy. Middle East Policy, 13. 3: 2-59. 2006. Print.