June 22, 2008
Zimbabwe: A Lost Opportunity of American Leadership
In light of Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to drop out of Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election, the opposition party--Movement for Democratic Change--has officially failed its bid to end Mugabe's 28-year long tyrannical dictatorship. Citing unfair competition and continuous violence, Tsvangirai condemned the run-off race as illegitimate and does not want to continue for fear of causing more loss of lives due to this political struggle, though some Zimbabwean officials cite fear of an embarrassing defeat as the real reason behind Tsvangirai's withdrawal.
The continuation of Mugabe’s dictatorship in Zimbabwe deals a heavy blow to all who believes in democracy and freedom's power to bring prosperity and justice. When evaluating the situation further, it is even more disappointing to realize that there was little international intervention during the months of political violence--where innocent people were killed or detained and women were raped or abused all because of their political affiliation and civil opposition to the Mugabe government--to stop the repression and provide the necessary security to conduct a fair run-off election. It was a golden opportunity for the U.S. to exercise its global leadership, regain its international standing, and deliver the good that its democracy promoting platform promises. In her recent essay in Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, forcefully and eloquently articulated a foreign policy platform where democratization continues to be the centerpiece of a so-called "American Realism" (combination of idealism and classic realism). Unfortunately, in the case of Zimbabwe, the U.S. failed to put its money where its mouth is, and allowed the opportunity to slip by. Since the Iraq War, the U.S. foreign policy establishment has been seemingly plagued by a shroud of fear of intervention even when its leadership is clearly called upon. The Burmese monk protest was one of these missed opportunities. The post-election violence in Kenya was another, but thanks to the aggressive leadership of Kofi Annan, a power-sharing deal was brokered and the Kenyan democratic institutions prevailed, though the U.S. had very little to do with it. The chaos in Zimbabwe presented another chance for President Bush to deliver his promise of democracy and end his disastrous foreign policy record on a high note, but he simply decided to put his hands in his pockets and went to Europe.
With one missed opportunity after another, it is not hard to become skeptical of the neo-conservative, democracy promoting doctrine of the Bush-Rice era, no matter how inspiring in words this doctrine sounds. Although Zimbabwe weighs very little in the calculus of U.S. national interest, it is not difficult to see how much benefit a humanitarian success story can bring to U.S. image around the world. This is not to say that we should only embark on a humanitarian mission if it improves our reputation; when people are suffering from brutal oppression from their leaders, the United States has an obligation to intervene to bring security and justice if a clear case for intervention is present. Two prominent scholars from the Center for Strategic and International Studies have already devised a workable plan for the U.S. to remove Mugabe's dictatorship and help improve and stabilize Zimbabwe's fledgling democracy, but our administration has decided to ignore it altogether.
Whether it is for our own interests or the interests of others, we should have intervened in Zimbabwe for the sake of democracy, freedom and humanitarianism--three concepts that should be resonating across the world but have been instead perceived as sugar coats for a selfish U.S. foreign policy. If the United States is truly committed to promoting democratic values and principles, which I imagine it will at least rhetorically, doesn't matter who becomes the next president, we must be ready to back our words with action when a justifiable case of intervention presents itself. Iraq of 2003 was not one of those cases, Zimbabwe of 2008 is. And until we deliver our promise, U.S. foreign policy will continue to bring more caution and fear than hope.
Posted by Kevin Xu at 07:41 PM | Comments (4)