Can Democracy Be Successfully Exported By Force - IR Assignment Solution

Can democracy be successfully exported by force? Give detailed examples to support your answer. 

The terminology "democracy" was first used in Ancient Greece; 2 centuries ago and the precise definition of the term is "rule by the people". Democracy doesn't have only one definition it is described through many disciplines that include economics, political science, societal or communitarian (Coppedge, 2011). According to Merriam Webster (2015), ‘a government is an institution in which the utmost power is in the hands of the citizens and used by them directly or indirectly via an arrangement of representation typically including elections. Moreover, it is said than the origins of democracy were from Ancient Greece, but currently, the USA has taken the initiative to promote democracy all over the globe. However, it is not possible to evaluate the accomplishment of exporting democracy via force. The first government to export democracy in the USA was the Reagan administration, then it was institutionalized by the Clinton regime and Bush Regime made this a key factor of America's National Security Policy concerning the Middle East. Moreover, the use of force in exporting democracy has failed terribly due to the causes which involve the importance of culture and traditions around the globe and how culture and values are an informal entity which coincides with formal institutions, involving legislations, constitutions, policies, and laws (Coyne, 2006). The reasons involving wither the failure or success of democracy are traditions, culture, and citizen’s attitude towards democracy whether they approve or reject democracy and externalities. Some successes have been accomplished by exporting democracy through force that are Japan, West Germany, and Italy and the failure are Iraq, Somalia, Cuba and Afghanistan (Bezhan, 2019). 

Democracy is that people have the right to exercise freedom, right to act, speak and think as they want (Oxford, 2105), however, nations exports democracy through military actions that snatches them with the freedom to speak or act. In 2003, when the US tried to export democracy through force in Iraq; the situation there was horrific and people were horrified due to the use of arms and weapons. According to Archibugi (2008), there are 4 main elements which are not considered when entering into a country; internal components of a nation, citizens do not oppose every rigid administration, if the people are against it than the externality will force it and it might conclude in the civil war. The first factor includes the internal elements and the second is that as to why democracy exported through force fails because the country doesn't have a say in the regime; citizens aren't allowed to have to say which make them victims and are in the state of terror like in Iraq and Afghanistan. In these two countries where force was used on the citizens and Americans didn't communicate with the locals, which led to hatred among the population. The last element is either democracy is being originated for the first time or it has already been originated and is simply being reintroduced; as explained earlier that it was previously originated from Ancient Greece and democracy has been exported successfully through force in West Germany, Italy, and Japan; the reason behind it was that people have lower religious and cultural difference and they wanted to flourish (Enterline & Greig, 2008). By the term society's culture, we mean the collection of traditions, values, culture, believes and many more which are passed down by generations (Coyne, 2006). The main restriction for the use of democracy through force in other countries is culture as every area of the society's foundations are ruined. By dominating the traditions and values of a society, a country cannot democratize the society through force as the customs and culture are deeply rooted in the society; especially in Iran and Afghanistan USA failed terribly whereas when America used force to export democracy in Japan and Germany it was successful by providing AID, soldiers, systematic elections.