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A Constant in an Ever-Changing World: Washington's Pursuit of Its

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A Constant in an Ever-Changing World: Washington's Pursuit of Its A Constant in an Ever-Changing World: Washington's Pursuit of its Interests Through Regime Change after 1989 Ari Weinstein This thesis is submitted in part fulfillment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the Degree in Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 1 Copyright Statement This work is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights. 2 Abstract This dissertation is a study of the “policy trajectories” followed by those national governments which, at one point or another over the course of the January 1, 1990 – September 10, 2001 period, were the targets of “successful” Washington-backed regime change campaigns. My analytical focus is on determining if the “successful” occurrence of a Washington-backed regime change in a non-US country appears to serve as an inflection point in the “policy trajectory” that is pursued by the target country’s national government. I review those policies and policy stances which provide insights into the basic “line” that a given non-US national government adhered to with regard to economic matters, foreign affairs as well as the domestic, non-economic sphere. I make determinations as to whether, after the occurrence of a Washington-backed regime change, the targeted national government became either; 1) more committed or less committed to implementing policies consistent with the principles of a “free-market” capitalist economy; 2) more committed or less committed to making “its own” country hospitable to specifically American private foreign investment; 3) more committed or less committed to aligning its geopolitical stance with that of Washington; 4) more committed or less committed to making “its own” internal political system more genuinely democratic (as opposed to authoritarian;) 5) more committed or less committed to respecting fundamental human rights. The first three research questions in this dissertation reflect my own ideological inclinations, influenced as they are by certain foundational principles of Marxism. The other two research questions in this dissertation are based on the “mainstream” liberal and neo-conservative outlooks in contemporary western politics. Liberal and neo-conservative intellectuals and public figures generally claim that Washington’s foreign interventions are based on an enlightened and progressive desire to spread the ‘blessings’ of liberal parliamentary democracy and decent human rights practices as widely as possible outside the borders of the US. Three non-US regime changes provide the raw data from which the validity of all five research questions can be evaluated. A portion of this dissertation is devoted to better understanding critical realism and to explaining how it can serve to provide an important “conceptual-philosophical” support for the Marxist and World- Systems Theory perspectives. The elaboration of the various ontological and epistemological assumptions that critical realism shares with the Marxist and World Systems Theory outlooks takes on is significant given that these outlooks served as the ideological and intellectual well-spring from which I drew the inspiration for the formulation of the three research questions which I am advancing as my own in this dissertation. Furthermore, I provide explanations for why the utilization of the case-study method not only flows logically from an acceptance and an application in the study process of the central principles of critical realism, but why it may well be compatible with Marxist and World Systems Theory- influenced attempts to understand complex socio-historical phenomena and processes. Critical realism, which emphasizes the vital importance of identifying the existence of particular potential causal factors in the sphere of human affairs, as well as Marxism, with its rather comprehensive and well-rounded vision of what constitutes the sources of exploitation, power and weakness in the modern world capitalist economy, can all see their own explanatory powers being enhanced via the careful elaboration of the kind of detailed historical accounts that constitute positive examples of how the case-study method should be applied for the in-depth analysis and ever-better comprehension of the social world. 3 Acknowledgments My ability to successfully complete this work has been to an extraordinary extent contingent upon the varied forms – and considerable amounts – of assistance that people all over the world have accorded me. The exclusion here of the name of anybody who provided me with help at one stage or another during the carrying out of the key research for and then during the actual writing of this dissertation is wholly unintentional and I apologize in advance for any such possible slight. That having been said, I want to express here my gratitude for the enormous degree of help that, over the course of seven-plus years, my professors, Dr. Roy Smith and Dr. Christopher Farrands, have provided to me every step of the way during the often arduous “journey” from the beginning to the end of this project. Their help has been absolutely indispensable and, for this, I want to let both of them know just how sincerely appreciative I am for all that they have done for me over the course of the period that I have been enrolled as a graduate student at Nottingham Trent University. Neglecting to mention the help – in the form of finances, encouragement and otherwise – that my Mother, Margaret Weinstein, has provided to me for the purpose of finally arriving at the end of this nearly eight-year academic “marathon” would simply a genuinely unforgiveable “oversight,” and that is why I want to, indeed absolutely must, here extend a heartfelt “Thank You !” to her for her truly essential role in enabling me to this dissertation’s “finish line.” My Aunt, Lauren Diamond, has similarly been extremely supportive all through the “thick-and-thin” of the process of working on and then finally completing this dissertation, and I also want her to know just how grateful I am to her for all that she has done to contribute to the realization of this dream – my receipt of a doctorate. Similarly, I want to thank my half-sister, Laura Knight, for the yeoman’s work that, over the course of a number of months, she rather efficiently performed in substantially reducing this dissertation’s word count. The hours and hours that she put it have resulted in this dissertation not exceeding this university’s “word-total” regulations and I am formally handing it in today in large measure because of this “labor of love” of hers. Again – it is entirely possible that I may have neglected to mention the assistance that, at one point or another during the course of “working my way through” this dissertation, one or another family member, friend, colleague or associate, etc. granted me. To those people whose contributions to this dissertation I may have neglected to discus in this section, I want both to apologize and also to assure that, I have not forgotten you or what you have done for me. To everyone – explicitly mentioned in this section or otherwise – who stood by me in my time of need while working on this project, I would simply like to say: “Thank You !, Thank You !, and Thank You Again !” 4 Table of Contents Cover Page ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Copyright Statement .............................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................. 4 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 8 List of Maps ......................................................................................................................................... 11 List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 28 2.1 Defining Terms: (Relatively) Right-wing, (Relatively) Left-wing and Regime Change ........ .28 2.2 National Interest and Nationalisms .......................................................................................... 36 2.3 Literature Critical of the Approach Taken Here ...................................................................... 40 2.4 Critical Thinking on Liberal/Idealist Accounts of US Foreign Policy
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