The United States has long wielded "democracy" as both sword and shield—a justification for its foreign interventions and a rallying cry for its supposed moral superiority. But as history shows, the U.S. commitment to democracy is conditional at best and hostile at worst. The real priority is ensuring that governments, especially in the Global South, serve U.S. corporate and geopolitical interests. When nations dare to challenge this arrangement, Washington’s democratic mask slips, revealing a ruthless drive to crush sovereignty and preserve its dominance.
The decades since 1992 have offered no shortage of examples, each more damning than the last. From Latin America to the Middle East, Africa to Southeast Asia, U.S. policy continues to undermine democratic movements while propping up regimes that align with American interests. The results? Destabilised nations, human suffering, and the perpetuation of a global system designed to enrich a few at the expense of the many.
The Endless Assault on Latin American Sovereignty
In Latin America, the U.S. has maintained its role as the self-appointed overseer, ensuring that no government strays too far from the neoliberal orthodoxy. Democracy is tolerated only when it guarantees U.S. dominance. When it doesn’t, the gloves come off.
Take Honduras, where in 2009, the U.S. supported the military coup that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya’s crime? Raising the minimum wage, attempting modest land reforms, and aligning with regional leaders who prioritised national sovereignty over U.S. corporate profits. After initial lip service condemning the coup, Washington quickly pivoted to supporting the post-coup regime, which unleashed a wave of violence and corruption. Today, Honduras remains one of the most dangerous and impoverished countries in the region—a direct consequence of U.S. meddling.
Then there’s Venezuela, a nation that dared to use its oil wealth to fund social programs and assert control over its resources under Hugo Chavez. The U.S. responded with a failed coup in 2002, economic sanctions that strangled the economy, and relentless propaganda portraying the country as a failed state. These policies, continued under the Biden administration, have exacerbated economic hardship for ordinary Venezuelans, all to punish a government that refused to play by Washington’s rules.
Bolivia offers another grim case study. In 2019, Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, was ousted in a U.S.-backed coup after nationalising lithium resources and implementing policies benefiting marginalised communities. The interim government, led by far-right politician Jeanine Anez, rolled back Morales’s reforms and brutally repressed dissent. While Morales’s party later returned to power through elections, the coup exposed the U.S.’s willingness to back authoritarianism to secure access to critical resources.
Democracy in the Middle East: A Convenient Myth
The U.S. has long claimed to champion democracy in the Middle East, but its actions tell a different story. In reality, Washington’s priority is controlling the region’s resources and maintaining strategic dominance, even if it means crushing democratic movements or supporting despotic regimes.
The 2013 coup in Egypt is a glaring example. After the Arab Spring ousted longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, Egypt held its first democratic elections, resulting in the presidency of Mohamed Morsi. While Morsi’s Islamist government faced legitimate criticism, it represented a rare instance of electoral democracy in the region. That was too much for Washington. The U.S. backed General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s military coup, restoring authoritarian rule under the guise of "stability." Sisi’s regime has since massacred protesters, silenced dissent, and turned Egypt into a police state—all with over $1 billion in annual U.S. military aid.
Iraq, meanwhile, stands as a monument to the U.S.’s fraudulent democracy-promotion rhetoric. The 2003 invasion was sold as a mission to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, but it left behind a shattered nation, a corrupt sectarian government, and a playground for American oil companies. The democratic aspirations of Iraqis were buried under decades of violence, instability, and foreign exploitation.
And let’s not forget Palestine. When Hamas won legislative elections in 2006—elections deemed free and fair by international observers—the U.S. responded by supporting a blockade that devastated Gaza’s economy and punished its civilian population. Washington continues to fund and arm Israel’s apartheid regime, ensuring that Palestinian self-determination remains an unfulfilled dream and complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity.
Africa: Resources Over Representation
Africa, often treated as a peripheral concern by U.S. policymakers, is increasingly a target for the same playbook of exploitation and repression. The continent’s vast mineral wealth, critical for technologies like electric vehicles and renewable energy, has made it a new frontier for resource-driven imperialism.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), U.S. policies have long prioritised access to resources over the well-being of Congolese citizens. After the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the U.S. backed various regimes and armed factions to secure access to the DRC’s cobalt, coltan, and other valuable minerals. Efforts by grassroots movements to assert national control over resources have been met with brutal repression, often facilitated by U.S.-trained forces.
Sudan, too, has been caught in the crossfire of U.S. interests. The recent conflict between rival generals—both of whom have enjoyed varying degrees of U.S. support—has plunged the country into chaos. Genuine democratic movements have been sidelined, as Washington’s focus remains on securing influence rather than supporting Sudanese self-determination.
Asia: Democracy as a Weapon Against Rivals
In Asia, U.S. democracy-promotion efforts are often little more than tools in its geopolitical rivalry with China. The rhetoric of freedom and human rights is deployed selectively, depending on whether a regime aligns with American interests.
In the Philippines, for example, the U.S. has supported authoritarian leaders for decades to maintain its military presence and economic influence. Under Rodrigo Duterte, Washington remained a key ally despite his brutal "war on drugs," which killed thousands of civilians. Today, the U.S. is deepening its ties with Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose family’s legacy of dictatorship and plunder remains fresh in Filipino memory. Democracy takes a backseat when strategic interests are at stake.
Myanmar offers another revealing case. Following the military coup in 2021, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the junta but did little to support the grassroots movements fighting for democracy. Myanmar’s strategic location in the Indo-Pacific region makes it a useful pawn in the U.S.-China rivalry, and Washington’s focus on containing Beijing often overshadows any genuine commitment to democratic principles.
The Consequences of Hypocrisy
The U.S.’s selective commitment to democracy is not just hypocritical—it’s destructive. By undermining democratic movements and propping up authoritarian regimes, Washington creates instability, fuels anti-American sentiment, and erodes trust in the very ideals it claims to champion. Worse, it sets a precedent that other powers, from China to Russia, are only too eager to follow.
What’s left is a world where democracy is hollowed out, not just in the Global South but globally. By prioritising control over principles, the U.S. ensures that democracy remains, for much of the world, an empty promise.
Conclusion: The Democracy Delusion
If the U.S. truly cared about democracy, it would support self-determination and prioritise the well-being of people over corporate profits and geopolitical games. Instead, it continues to wield democracy as a weapon to secure its dominance while crushing those who challenge it. The result is a global order built on exploitation and repression, a system that cannot last. The sooner we abandon the illusion of U.S. benevolence, the sooner we can begin the real work of building a just and democratic world.
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