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Translating American Military Power into Political Gain
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Introduction
The American military power and prowess cannot be understated or overlooked. The American armed forces comprise one of the most elite and advanced military capability in the world.
American military might gained global recognition in the ear of the cold war, the Iraqi war (Gulf Wars) and the invasion of Libya a year ago. These are some of the nations and regions where America stands strong in the face of adversity and socio-political and economic strength. The strength of the military, however, has hardly been tested in recent years. To many nations, America is a fierce foe and a generous friend, hence the choice for the latter rather than the earlier. No one wants to make enemies with a country that has not only the most advanced missile system I the world but also the most number of nuclear warheads. The resolve of America to protect itself by all means was also realized in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where kilotonnes of nuclear arsenal were unleashed on soft targets (Feaver & Gelpi, 2011).
The United States stands strong in the resolve to fight aggression. However, the investment that America safeguards the most is the economic interest of the nation. America often fights aggressors but wages economic war where necessary as well. Indeed, wars in recent times have been inherently fueled by economic tensions and unfavorable trade environments. America has thus been inherently involved in every effort to ease political tensions and instability that has threatened the economic interest of the superpower. However, economic warfare is nothing new. There are political decisions to economic problems such as the choice the United Kingdom made to leave the European Union. However, the United States government takes it upon itself to fight to remain and solve situations rather than break union. This is partly why the Union of the States has been maintained for centuries (Huddy & Feldman, 2011).
By military means, any nation can achieve social, economic and political stability. These three spheres of modern civilization are inter-related. Social stability defines a company’s ability to safeguard democratic processes. This ensures that the rights of the majority are respected but the voice of the minority is heard as well. Economic principles such as the strength of the dollar are very important to the United States. The world reserve currency is the United States Dollar. For this reason, the American economy has to be stable at all times for the sake of the world economy as well. Political stability is however the most important aspect to the nation. Although America is politically stable due to the strong representative democracy institutions and the numerous checks and balances on the representative plenary, political instability of American allies is a threat to American socio-political and economic stability as well.
The United States military is responsible for any federal decision to use all means to achieve an end goal. America is protected in her decisions by the veto vote in the United Nations’ general assembly. The choice of war on countries that threaten world peace is thus often the duty of the United States of America. The country takes pride in bringing world peace and order. Currently, American involvement in the Syrian Crisis is immense. From the nuclear deal with Syria a year ago to the fight against international terror threat by groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, there is a growing impact of American Army boots on Asian soil. The United States is very involved in these decisions and makes a lot of impact on the war on terror. America however made a lot of impact on the war on terror over the last few years. As a result, a lot of terror threats against the United States have been averted (Hetherington & Suhay, 2014).
Despite the fact that the United States has made progress on the war on terror, there has been a significant terror threat globally that threatens global peace and stability. The challenge with terror is that it has advanced beyond common sectarian violence to an affront on humanity and the encouragement of anarchy. With the growing threat of terror groups on the world, there has been increasing demand for greater efforts to manage the global terror threat. The American military has thus been criticized for not doing enough to manage the situation despite the immeasurable prowess that the military has been known for. The conditioning of American soldiers, the power in military research and the immense military intelligence the United States army raise the concern that the American government invests a lot on the military but gains very little from it. There have been many challenges the American military faces in harnessing political gain for the nation. The rest of this paper discusses three such impediments (Feaver & Gelpi, 2011).
Prolonged American involvement in the war on terror
The threat of terror is currently promulgated by the three major terror groups in the world; the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL), also refered to as ISIS or Daesh, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Although there are other terror organizations, these three groups have been responsible for almost all attacks on the United States. The American government has thus been forced to concentrate their efforts of averting terror and fighting organized terror activities. It is necessary that America deals with this threat so that the military finds new ways to protect the country and advance the nation’s involvement in political and economic developments of the global economy. The war on terror has thus been a major concern for the nation. The United States government has also been unable to interpret the motivation and impact of terror on the nation, often terming it as an effort to encourage anarchy, discourage efforts for world stability and peace or even as attacks on religious freedom and organizations.
The threat of terror on society has been a difficult issue for the American military to tackle as well. Terror groups have frustrated the efforts made in Iraq, led to the collapse of the Syrian talks and basically made significant strides towards encouraging anarchy in Asia. The challenge posed by terror groups has also been realized with the continuous death of American soldiers that led to the retraction of American forces in Iraq a few years ago. The Obama administration has been blamed for not sending enough infantry soldiers to Syria but there has been a general praise on the American tactics as well as they have been in the interest of the people. The threat of terror has been augmented by the development of new terror groups such as the Boko Haram and Al-Shabab that have encouraged retrogressive vices such as human trafficking and piracy on international seas and ‘no-man’ oceans. America has thus been caught unawares and often coerced to make policy decisions that have not been in the interest of the American public. All the same, terror has been fought to a great extend thanks to the use of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (Hook & Spanier, 2015).
The war on terror may not be entirely an American affair but it is definitely a concern that the world delegates to the United States of America. The country thus struggles to manage a global problem using local resources (Elshtain, 2014). The American military is not the largest and neither is it the most expansive. A lot of American success on the military forefront is based on the strength of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) that has other militaries contribute their resources to the war as well. However, the political status of America in the war of terror is not similar to the same status the nation held thanks to the victories in the major world wars, (I & II) that they were accredited for ending and leading to an international peace treaty (United Nations’ Treaty). It is vital to remember that the United States has as much stake in the war as any other nation, especially those that suffer from frequent sporadic attacks such as France, Belgium and Turkey.
Translating American Military Power into Political Gain and Defense policies by the American legislature
The American legislature coins most of the defense policies executed by the American military. For instance, the threat of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) in the Somali crisis led to a congress decision to withdraw US troops from Somalia. As a result, the war on Somalia militia was never won and is still fought today. Despite the military might of the American army and the immense intelligence of the American forces in the Somali capital, somehow it was not possible to fight off aggressive Somali terrorists. The Somali situation was an embarrassment to America but the major issue was the fact that America made the decision as a matter of policy and congress was in a hurry to find a solution to a problem that had existed for many years. Indeed, there was a problem with the situation encouraged by the American parliaments. Regardless, the justification for ‘saving soldiers’ lives’ was welcomed by the American community.
Over the last few years, political differences between the major parties in the nation; Democrats and Republicans have led to the escalated tension among the two. As a result, few laws have passed the senate floor. Congress has also realized representative boycotts and other unpatriotic decisions to serve partisan interests. The effective result has been that American congress has been unable to pass substantial regulation on foreign policy. This has affected the military’s preparedness for most of the foreign policy concerns such as the war on terror. The nation has also suffered the implication of surprise terror attacks without policies to handle immigration and citizenship; all of which are issues that affect the American military (Guzdial & Arquilla, 2016).
Translating American Military Power into Political Gain and Little investment in military advancements by foreign armies
In the first and second world wars, there was an imminent battle of superiority among the world’s armies. New technologies in military warfare were tested and implemented on the battleground. The formation of the United Nations’ also anticipated that an improvement in military strength for defense would be realized by all countries. However, few nations have invested in a substantial development of their military arsenal. Indeed, most of the world’s nuclear warheads are owned by two countries; the United States and Russia. With there being little done by American allies, the weakening of the allied forces has encouraged increased terror attacks and soft targets among civilians. There has also been an imminent sense of anarchy due to military dissent in some countries. This has destabilized the world economy to some extent (Badsey, 2016).
While America invests more than 3 trillion dollars of its budgets on defense, most nations in the United Nations’ organization do not spend half as much. This has weakened the NATO to a great extent. Many American politicians have called for a renegotiation of the NATO agreement due to this reason. It is apparent that despite the world continuously becoming vulnerable to terror threats, little effort has been made to avert the threat. This is the concern in the United Nations at the moment. Most of the contribution from the member states is not significant to the war on terror yet these nations face a larger scale of terror attacks than America does. It is thus important for the world to invest more in military preparedness, the equipment and training of soldiers for international collaborative missions as well as the enactment of laws that commit a significant budget to defense (Andrews, Nelkin, Angwin & Appel, 2015).
Translating American Military Power into Political Gain Conclusion
Due to the protracted wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Pakistan, the United States Army is losing a lot of soldiers to the war on terror. An immediate and impactful solution needs to be sought in order to encourage global involvement in these wars. The strength and purpose of the American military is threatened by the legislations the United States government passes or fails to pass in support of the military (O’Neil, 2014). This challenge needs a political solution that is indiscriminate and effective in meeting the needs of the American people and safeguarding the interests of the national economy. The American people deserve a united government and not one that is pro-democrat or republican. America thus needs to formulate policies that encourage international integration and synergies in the process of averting terror. The military is aware of the role it needs to play in safeguarding the nation. However, where it is always a requirement that such efforts be consented by the instruments of American power, bureaucratic tendencies do get in the way.
The United States needs to employ all diplomatic efforts to encourage international involvement in its wars. The wars in significant terror cell regions such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq do have a bearing on international peace. All nations should thus lend their support towards ending these wars successfully. Just like the world united on two fronts in the previous wars, there is need for Unity in the war on terror. Terror is a common enemy that needs to be addressed without sparing any financial resources. As America continues to be on the forefront of the war on terror, her problems internally increase. The government’s over-involvement in diplomatic foreign missions may be the interest of world peace but hardly on the American economy. It is thus important that America finds a way to encourage international synergies towards bringing an end to an organized hate crime. With potential threats from countries such as North Korea, military preparedness of the world is critical (Schneider, 2014). Such efforts will prove very instrumental to the nation and to the world. By doing so, the American armed forces will contribute their role towards political gain and protection of the sovereignty just like they have done in the past.
Translating American Military Power into Political Gain References
Andrews, L., Nelkin, D., Angwin, J., & Appel, T. A. (2015). 204 Bibliography Andreas, Peter and Thomas J. Bierstekar (2003) The Rebordering of North America: Integration and Exclusion in a New Security Context, New York: Routledge. Hybrid Rule and State Formation: Public-Private Power in the 21st Century, 2(2), 203.
Badsey, S. (2016). media War and media Management. The Ashgate Research Companion to Modern Warfare, 401.
Elshtain, J. B. (2014). Just war against terror: The burden of American power in a violent world. Basic Books.
Feaver, P. D., & Gelpi, C. (2011). Choosing your battles: American civil-military relations and the use of force. Princeton University Press.
Guzdial, M., & Arquilla, J. (2016). Sampling bias in CS education, and where’s the cyber strategy?. Communications of the ACM, 59(4), 10-11.
Hetherington, M., & Suhay, E. (2014). Authoritarianism, threat, and Americans’ support for the war on terror. American Journal of Political Science, 55(3), 546-560.
Hook, S. W., & Spanier, J. (2015). American foreign policy since World War II. Cq Press.
Huddy, L., & Feldman, S. (2011). Americans respond politically to 9/11: understanding the impact of the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. American Psychologist, 66(6), 455.
O’Neil, A. (2014). Command Without Control? Nuclear Crisis Instability on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean Review, 10(1), 7.
Schneider, M. (2014). The North Korean Nuclear Threat to the US. Comparative Strategy, 33(2), 107-121.
