Paul J. Nyden
Free trade, selling and buying products from other countries around the world, might be the very best way to export "liberal democracy."
Free trade, selling and buying products from other countries around the world, might be the very best way to export "liberal democracy."
Using military invasions to impose "liberal democracy," followed by long-term occupations, might accomplish just the opposite.
Christopher Coyne, a young economics professor at West Virginia University, believes forceful attacks against dictatorial regimes generally damage democracy. The recent invasion of Iraq is a prime example, he says in his new book After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy.
In it, Coyne examines our relations with a range of nations over the last 110 years and finds a political advantage in market forces as opposed to military ones.
"Free trade has cultural benefits as well. Free trade is voluntary, not imposed. What better way to expose other people and other countries to our way of life?" Coyne asked during a recent interview in Charleston.
Coyne, who received his doctorate from George Mason University, believes we have experienced many "more failures than successes" in forceful attempts to export liberal democracy.
For every West Germany or Japan - already industrialized countries where we successfully helped restore democracy after World War II - there is a Vietnam, Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan or Iraq.
The book opens by recounting President William McKinley's April 11, 1898 request to Congress for authority to dispatch troops to Cuba, to quell civil unrest and inhumane treatment of local people.
"McKinley's greater, and unspoken, concern was the protection of American economic interests," Coyne writes.
Eight days later, Congress gave McKinley the authority to attack Cuba.
"The occupation marked one of the first attempts to shape political, economic and social outcomes via military intervention and occupation," Coyne adds.
Most of this engaging new volume from Stanford University Press examines the economics and politics of present-day foreign policy.
"Liberal democracy cannot be exported in a consistent manner at gunpoint" is Coyne's central conclusion.
Cultural and political diversity
Policymakers eager to impose "liberal democracy" typically downplay, or simply ignore, central roles played by various cultural norms, religious values, political beliefs, historical experiences and historic internal tensions in other nations.
And here at home, public opinion changes continually.
"Some [intervention] efforts may have very good public support at the beginning. But that often changes over time," Coyne said.
Prolonged conflicts, such as those in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and in Iraq today, typically promote dramatic changes in public opinion.
Coyne, who holds a libertarian philosophy, saves some of his highest praise for early American leaders who urged us to avoid imposing views on other countries, leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams.
Coyne specifically criticized Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for recent statements suggesting we should stay in Iraq for 100 years.
The U.S. Constitution, Coyne said, empowers Congress, not any president, to declare war. President Bush misused the October 2002 congressional resolution, he argues, to justify his March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Coyne's insights seem particularly timely with Bush's statements in late January, where he again insisted he can choose to ignore any particular provision of any piece of legislation passed by Congress.
Free trade, selling and buying products from other countries around the world, might be the very best way to export "liberal democracy."
Using military invasions to impose "liberal democracy," followed by long-term occupations, might accomplish just the opposite.
Christopher Coyne, a young economics professor at West Virginia University, believes forceful attacks against dictatorial regimes generally damage democracy. The recent invasion of Iraq is a prime example, he says in his new book After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy.
In it, Coyne examines our relations with a range of nations over the last 110 years and finds a political advantage in market forces as opposed to military ones.
"Free trade has cultural benefits as well. Free trade is voluntary, not imposed. What better way to expose other people and other countries to our way of life?" Coyne asked during a recent interview in Charleston.
Coyne, who received his doctorate from George Mason University, believes we have experienced many "more failures than successes" in forceful attempts to export liberal democracy.
For every West Germany or Japan - already industrialized countries where we successfully helped restore democracy after World War II - there is a Vietnam, Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan or Iraq.
The book opens by recounting President William McKinley's April 11, 1898 request to Congress for authority to dispatch troops to Cuba, to quell civil unrest and inhumane treatment of local people.
"McKinley's greater, and unspoken, concern was the protection of American economic interests," Coyne writes.
Eight days later, Congress gave McKinley the authority to attack Cuba.
"The occupation marked one of the first attempts to shape political, economic and social outcomes via military intervention and occupation," Coyne adds.
Most of this engaging new volume from Stanford University Press examines the economics and politics of present-day foreign policy.
"Liberal democracy cannot be exported in a consistent manner at gunpoint" is Coyne's central conclusion.
Cultural and political diversity
Policymakers eager to impose "liberal democracy" typically downplay, or simply ignore, central roles played by various cultural norms, religious values, political beliefs, historical experiences and historic internal tensions in other nations.
And here at home, public opinion changes continually.
"Some [intervention] efforts may have very good public support at the beginning. But that often changes over time," Coyne said.
Prolonged conflicts, such as those in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and in Iraq today, typically promote dramatic changes in public opinion.
Coyne, who holds a libertarian philosophy, saves some of his highest praise for early American leaders who urged us to avoid imposing views on other countries, leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams.
Coyne specifically criticized Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for recent statements suggesting we should stay in Iraq for 100 years.
The U.S. Constitution, Coyne said, empowers Congress, not any president, to declare war. President Bush misused the October 2002 congressional resolution, he argues, to justify his March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Coyne's insights seem particularly timely with Bush's statements in late January, where he again insisted he can choose to ignore any particular provision of any piece of legislation passed by Congress.
Bush specifically rejected the prohibition against spending federal funds to establish permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq included in the current National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress.
Blowback
Short-term benefits from military interventions, Coyne argues, are typically countered, and often lost, by long-term costs.
"The size of government under Bush has expanded tremendously," Coyne said. "The role of government has increased, even when you pull military spending out of the analysis.
"And the costs of war - the costs of taking care of our veterans, their medical costs and replacing outdated military equipment - will be there for years, well beyond George Bush.
"Economics is so important, including the costs of the unintended consequences of interventions."
In addition, foreign invasions often harbor other disastrous consequences.
"A central negative unintended consequence of the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq is that these actions may actually contribute to creating the next generation of terrorists," Coyne warns in his book.
That point has also been made by a host of recent analysts with experience in intelligence organizations, including people like Chalmers Johnson and Richard A. Clarke.
Coyne singled out the recent research of political scientist Robert A. Pape, whose "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism" studies the lives, sufferings, experiences and personal motivations of people who become terrorists.
Creating terrorists is one of the major unintended costs and consequences we suffer from military ventures.
The future
A firm backer of free trade, Coyne opposes the use of economic and political sanctions on other nations.
"Historically, sanctions have done little to transform illiberal regimes while imposing significant costs on the citizens in these countries. ...
"The core theme of this book is that military occupations aimed at reconstructing countries along liberal democratic lines are more likely to fail than to succeed," he writes.
Coyne believes "principled non-intervention and unilateral free trade" are the best policies we should pursue in our relations with weak, failed, conflict-torn states.
To promote and preserve free trade, Coyne concludes, "the United States must disengage from current long-term military interventions and refrain from becoming involved in future reconstruction efforts.
"The continued engagement of military forces" will promote the view already held by "many foreigners that the United States is a hypocritical hegemony. ...
"Such interventions will continue to generate negative consequences, such as further aggressions against the United States."
After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy by Christopher J. Coyne, Stanford University Press, 238 + x pages. Paperback, $24.95
To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.
