Cold War Through the Bush Administrtion (Essay Sample)

Cold War through the Bush Administration
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The future of democracy promotion as part of U.S. foreign policy is uncertain. Under George W. Bush, democracy promotion has been widely discredited through its close association with the Iraq war. Only a minority of the U.S. public now supports democracy promotion as a U.S. policy goal, and both the Republican and Democratic parties are internally divided on the subject. The actual extent of the Bush commitment to democracy promotion is much less than the president’s extensive rhetoric would suggest. Although the administration insists that the Iraq intervention was a democratizing mission from day one, this proposition remains intensely debated at home and abroad. Bush policy in the rest of the Middle East after the Cold War temporarily diverted from the traditional line of supporting autocratic Arab allies but has returned to it during their tenure as presidents. Beyond the Middle East, Bush policy is semi-realist. It includes some low-key, pro- democracy diplomacy and assistance but is primarily driven by economic and security interests that often clash with support for democracy, such as in China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and many other places. The positive effects of Bush policy on global democracy have been sparse. Despite hope in 2004–2005 that the Middle East was experiencing a “Baghdad Spring,” the region remains stuck in authoritarian rule. In both the Bush administrations and specifically early 90’s, the spread of democracy has stagnated in the rest of the world, with democratic reversals or backsliding outweighing gains. The Bush combination of idealism in words and semi-realism in deeds is not in itself a significant departure from recent predecessors. The foreign policies of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all combined in various proportions an emphasis on democracy with substantial realist elements. Following the 9-11 attacks and the Iraqi war U.S. foreign policy has been...