Foreign Regime Change by way of American Covert Actions

There are many ways that a country can interact or influence the world that they are a part of. For thousands of years nation-states have enacted diplomacy through diplomatic missions, commerce, embassies, sanctions, and even more hostile actions like open conflict. The United

States is no different in the tools that it has in its arsenal to interact in the realm of International relations. One avenue that the United States approaches international relations with its neighbors is an option that is sometimes considered if not quite sinister at the very least extremely uncouth.

The use of covert action by the US government to enact regime change in foreign governments has proven to be an extremely effective way to enforce its will on the international stage. I will attempt to do this by explaining what exactly it means to use covert action in this manner in addition to briefly citing three historic and distinct examples of regime changed enacted by the

United States and its allies. Obviously each of these events could, and do, cover their own individual books, but the succinct descriptions I'll provide should be more than up to the task.

To start things off let's breakdown what exactly I mean when I said “Foreign Regime

Change by way of American Covert Actions” Why would America want to instigate a regime change in a foreign country? The answers to this question range from the deceptively simple to the endlessly complex. The simple answer is that it would benefit the United States and its interests in some manner or another. These potential benefits can range anywhere from opening up natural resources to capitalistic enterprise all the way to believing that removing a hostile despot from power will improve your own standing in the w...

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...in Afghanistan a decade earlier. Instead of directly sending operatives to Libya to fight Gaddafi's regime the CIA was tasked with supplying arms and intelligence to the Libyan rebels. Ultimately Gadaffi would be overthrown by his rebellious population it was with minimal effort from the United States.

In summation the United States has many weapons in its arsenal to deal with a hostile regime. Usually this comes in the form of the Central Intelligence Agency being set loose to do what it is they do best. It has been done successfully numerous times in history, and will more than likely continue to be done into the future. As long as there is hostile foreign powers to be brought down and American influence to be spread the CIA will be there to undermine those nefarious regimes in the name of American interests abroad.

Works Cited

Introduction to Political Science