Liberal Hegemony (6)

There are several other reasons why efforts to export democracy and free-market capitalism fail.

• Foreign Aid to support democracy and economic development often ends up in the hands of the wrong people. Funds are either wasted or stolen by corrupt officials. So instead of fostering development, economic aid creates opportunities for corruption to thrive, and oligarchs to prosper.

• As John Mearsheimer noted, Nationalism is a powerful force. Nations want to determine their own direction. They do not like a powerful nation telling them what kind of government they should have.

• Religion is as powerful a force as nationalism. I believe Islam is a faulty religion, but I can understand that people living in an Islamic culture want Islam to have an influence on their government, just as Christians in the United States want Christianity to have an influence on their government. Forcing people in a very religious society to accept a secular government is asking for trouble.

• Failure to recognise the power of sin and evil is a serious mistake. During wars, revolutions, and political coups, ruthless people who know how to control and use power rise to the top. They do bad things to gain power, and then carry on the way that they started. So often the government that emerges after a war or a revolution is often worse than the one they tried to replace. This is evident in Libya.

• American hubris is another reason that attempts to export their economic and political systems fail. Americans are confident, can-do people. This confidence contributes to their economic success, but it has a downside. Americans sometimes rush into situations that they do not understand, particularly at the political and international level.

  From Vietnam to Libya, Hubris has caused American Presidents to take on tasks that are actually beyond their capability. These efforts often result in chaos, because, American leaders did not understand the nature of the problems they were dealing with. Blowing confidently in nations of the world that they do not understand is a recipe for failure.
  

  • Paul Bremer took the role of governor of Iraq, despite knowing very little about the history and culture of that nation. He did not know who were the key religious and tribal leaders. He often looked up with people without pollical credibility, because they talked big.

  • While the American controlled the city, Baghdad was ethnically cleansed without them realising, because they did not understand the tribal and religious divisions in the city they controlled. In some cases, they actually protected the people doing the ethnic cleansing.

  • The US Army provided financial support to Sunni leaders, then withdrew. Some of these disappointed people became leaders of ISIS.

  • President Obama allowed military resources to flow to radical Islamist groups in Syria to put pressure on the Assad government. In hindsight, it is evident that these policies contributed to the rise of ISIS.

  • ISIS was partially a creation of American Hubris.

  • Mike Pompeo believes that because he has read the Bible, he knows what is best for Iran and Venezuela, despite very weak knowledge of culture and history of these nations.

  • The list goes on.

Identifying problems in other nations much easier than developing practical, working effective solutions. “Do what we do” does not go far.