Free Thesis Statement About Policemen Of The World Thesis And Outline

The US foreign has greatly changed since its independence from Great Britain in 1776. The reason for this change has been linked to various occurrences that have impacted on its allies and national interests globally (Beisner, 2003). The first policy the United States came up with was the expansionist policy that focused on the expansion of the national boundaries as well as the acquisition of new territories such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.US later changed the policy to isolationism in tandem with its foreign objectives. Through isolationism, America limited its international participation. Currently, the US has adopted the democracy and human rights protection policy that has seen it get entangled in a number of international conflicts (Holsti, 2004).
The latter policy is the reason behind the tag “World Policeman” title that America is associated with. This policy was highly seen in action in various global altercations such as the Libyan and Syrian invasion. In the Libyan case, the US was keen on ousting Gadaffi’s regime while for the Syrian case it was motivated by the need to free Syrians from Assad’s dictatorship. Despite these being the popularly believed reasons, pundits argue that America was driven by personal interests in the two invasions (Wittkopf, Jones, & Kegley, 2008). In the Libyan and Syrian cases, the US had a strong interest in oil and putting up puppet regimes. The tyranny and dictatorship allegations were merely smokescreens of the real intent of the US.
It is imperative to assess the historical elements that elevated the US status as the world superpower which later translated to its role as world policeman since 1865. Religious views and morality is the first notable element that prompted the US to spread its principles and ideologies around the world. American missionaries were the first agents of morality and religious across the world. They transversed various areas to inculcate morals, as well as the Christian religion. The other element was the search for new territories such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. Through the expansionist policy, the US expanded its boundaries acquiring new lands that acted as primarily sources of raw materials and political prestige. The third reason was the emergence of the industrial age (Beisner, 2003). This pushed America to look for prospective markets in various corners of the world.
Since World War II, the US policing role can be effectively identified in three international conflicts. The first conflict was the 1955 Vietnam Civil war. It pitted the US ally South Vietnam against the Communist Soviet Union’s North Vietnam. The wars aim was to see to it the containment of the Communist ideology (Wittkopf, Jones, & Kegley, 2008). The second conflict was observed in the 1991 Somalia invasion that saw the US participating with the intent of restoring stability and peace in the horn of Africa region. The third conflict was the Iraqi case. The US invaded Iraq in 2003 in order to liberate the Iraqi people and also disarm the country off its weapons of mass destruction (Holsti, 2004).
The three incidences as aforementioned were motivated by several factors. The Vietnam case was driven by the need by the Americans to defeat the communist ideology as well as showcase its military might globally. The Somali conflict, on the other hand, was prompted by the need by the US to stabilize the North Eastern region of Africa (Holsti, 2004). It was motivated by the need to crush terrorist networks that had much of their investment in Somalia. The third conflict, the Iraq invasion, was brought about by the desire by US to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. The containment of weapons of mass destruction was another factor that prompted to invade Iraq. The invasion in the end saw the arrest of Saddam Hussein and the capture of the Iraq capital as well as a regime change.

References

Beisner, R. L. (2003). American foreign relations since 1600: A guide to the literature. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Holsti, O. R. (2004). Public opinion and American foreign policy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Wittkopf, E. R., Jones, C. M., & Kegley, C. W. (2008). American foreign policy: Pattern and process. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.