By: Abdulhakeem Abdulhakeem.
On the 7th of January 2021, I posted a statement that reads “For those African Scholars who always sees the USA as a role model when it comes to democracy, I believed with the recent happenings in the USA you would have a Rethink”, on one of the popular social media platform called FACEBOOK. To my greatest surprise, that statement generates lots of controversial comments from my colleagues in the pursuit of historical knowledge.
Their argument was that you can not use the attitude of an individual (Donald Trump) to undermine and criticize the Democratic dispensation of the USA. To them (My Colleagues), the USA has been in the past and still remains the best country when it comes to democratic practices. However, I intend to deconstruct their claims with this piece by presenting them with how the overrated USA is just a mere preacher but not a Practitioner of true democracy. In order to do so comprehensively, this piece will define the term Democracy as defined by some Scholars, brings out the soul of Democracy which is sovereignty along with it meaning, and lastly, show how the USA has betrayed Democracy by undermining the sovereignty of nation’s across the World.
To start with, Pennock in 1979, defines Democracy as a ” Government by the people, where liberty, equality, and fraternity are secured to the greatest possible degree and in human capacities are developed to the utmost, by means including a free and full discussion of common problems and interest”.
Finer in 1997 defines “Democracy as a state where political decisions are taken by and with the consent, or the active participation, of the majority of the people”.
Abraham Lincoln, defines “Democracy as Government of the people, by the people and for the people”.
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A careful examination of the above definitions by Scholars would put on your table the truthful reality of how significant Sovereignty is to democracy. The three definitions bring to light the continuous appearance of the noun ‘People’, and this simply means that Democracy is all about humanities. And for People to enjoy Democracy, they have to belong to a State, and the State has to possess a territory, and that territory has to be free from external control, no matter how little it is. And this is where Sovereignty comes in.
What then is Sovereignty?
The origin of the term “Sovereignty” goes back to the Westphalia Peace Treaty of 1648 A.D that ended the thirty years War in Europe ( Dr. USMAN LADAN Dept of history, ABU, 2018).
The objective of this treaty was to consolidate political authority within a distinct territory and stop the intervention of external actors in the structures of domestic political jurisdiction. As Dr. Usman Ladan rightly said, ” Under this system, borders clearly demarcated “Outside” from “Inside” and established the ultimate authority of State within its the domain.
Sovereignty was further made the powerhouse of Democracy when Democracy became the dominant form of the political system in World Politics. Hence, in a simple term, ‘Sovereignty means that a nation-State has power over its destiny without any form of interference.
Similarly, Sovereignty can be categorized into two: internal and external. Internal sovereignty implies that a State should have effective control over its territory while external sovereignty implies that the internal sovereignty of a State should be recognized and respected by other States that also possess sovereignty. With this little conceptualization of Sovereignty by this piece, one would have expected the USA to prove their worth as the “Best Practicing Democratic Nation” they have always claimed by honoring this powerful attribute of Democracy called “Sovereignty”. But unfortunately, the USA the preacher of Democracy failed woefully to uphold this powerful attribute of Democracy.
How then did USA failed to respect the Sovereignty of Nations??
Many Scholars have argued that the Cold war that began after the end of the Second World war in 1945, saw the aggressive undermining of the Nation’s sovereignty. And USA, a supposed “Best Practicing Democratic Nation” participated actively in undermining the sovereignty of nation’s.
One of those Scholars was Dr Usman Ladan, a lecturer in the department of history, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He argues that the USA undermines the Sovereignty of West Germany and Japan during the era of the cold war through the postwar American military occupation. As a result of the forceful military occupation of Germany and Japan by USA, USA made both Countries dependent on Washington for their defense, controlled the flow of essential resources to each Countries, exercised leverage over their domestic policies, and wielded decisive influence over their global orientation. By these various actions exhibited by USA, it’s become a fact that the supposed “Best Practicing Democratic Nation” has betrayed Democracy to a large extent.
In the same faith, S.N Rath in 1964 argues in his article titled “National Sovereignty in the present day” published in the Indian Journal of Political Science, that the USA pledged its support to anticommunist insurgents and justified its backing of opposition movements throughout Central America.
This intention by USA became clear in Nicaragua ,a nation in Central America known for its Volcanic and Lakes features, where USA equipped and funded the ‘Contras’, a guerilla force, to overthrow the Sandinasta Government of Daniel Ortega. By doing so, USA has betrayed Democracy big time.
When the Cold war eventually ended, USA still continued to betray Democracy by undermining the sovereignty of Nations. The most discussed aspect of how the USA betrayed Democracy by undermining the Nation’s sovereignty after the Cold war by Scholars was that of Iraq.
According to Bruce R. Pirnie and Edward O. Connell in their article titled the “Overview of the conflict in Iraq”, they argues that ” The America invasion of Iraq goes back to the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in 1990, after Kuwait refused to pay compensation for alleged illegal drilling of Iraqi oil, as demanded by Saddam Hussein. In response to the refusal of Kuwait to pay compensation, Saddam Hussein in turn invaded Kuwait and proclaimed it as the Nineteenth province of Iraq. In August, the United States and Saudi Arabia spearheaded the formation of Western and regional powers that drove out the Iraqi Invaders after five weeks of military attacks”.
As if that was not enough, in March 2002, President Bush Jnr disclosed to a group of US Senators that he was going to topple Saddam. Knowing the implications of such action, his secretary, Colin Powell, advised him to secure the approval of United Nations before taking military action against Saddam but he refused.
On 17th March, 2003, President Bush Jnr gave Saddam and his Sons a forty hours ultimatum to leave Iraq or face the consequences ( Bruce R. Pirnie and Edward O. Connell).
On the 19th of March, the illegal American invasion of Iraq began and on the 9th of April, the US Marine corps entered Baghdad. On 22nd July, US forces surrounded the house in Mosul where Sadam Sons Uday and Qusay were hiding and killed them in a two hours gun battle( Dr Usman Ladan, dept Of History, ABU,2018). On the 13th of December, US forces captured Saddam Hussein in a hideout near his home, before he was finally killed by, death by hanging by the Iraq Special Tribunal spearheaded by USA.
However, a critical assessment of the actions of USA in regards to the invasion of Iraq, will make you agree with me that USA has been the most undemocratic state when it comes to respecting the Soul of Democracy which is “Sovereignty”.
In conclusion, it is very pertinent for those Scholars who have derived joy in beating their chest like King Kong and saying that USA is the best practitioner of Democracy to have a Rethink.
As it is obvious that the USA is just preacher of Democracy but never a true practitioner, till this period. It should also be a wake-up call to all those Nigeria political pundits who are sitting passionately and expecting favors from Joe Biden’s new administration to wake up from their dreams and tell their Government the truth.
They should make African leaders know that there is no achievement like the one from within as it is the achievement from within that will pave the way significantly from any contributions that may come from outside.
Abdulhakeem Abdulhakeem, Department Of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria
