Description
Book SynopsisIn 2011, the United States launched its third regime-change attempt in a decade. Like earlier targets, Libya's Muammar Qaddafi had little hope of defeating the forces stacked against him. He seemed to recognize this when calling for a cease-fire just after the intervention began. But by then, the United States had determined it was better to oust him than negotiate and thus backed his opposition. The history of foreign-imposed regime change is replete with leaders like Qaddafi, overthrown after wars they seemed unlikely to win. From the British ouster of Afghanistan's Sher Ali in 1878 to the Soviet overthrow of Hungary's Imre Nagy in 1956, regime change has been imposed on the weak and the friendless. In Toppling Foreign Governments, Melissa Willard-Foster explores the question of why stronger nations overthrow governments when they could attain their aims at the bargaining table. She identifies a central cause-the targeted leader's domestic political vulnerability-that not only give
Trade Review"Melissa Willard-Foster presents new and innovative theories that not only describe the causes but also predict the likelihood and nature of foreign-imposed regime change. Her book is a key work on an understudied yet vitally important topic, especially in the policy arena." * Dan Reiter, author of
How Wars End *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. Why the Strong Impose Regime Change on the Weak
Chapter 2. How States Impose Regime Change
Chapter 3. Testing the Logic of Foreign-Imposed Regime Change
Chapter 4. The Cold War: American Policy Toward Bolivia and Guatemala, 1952-54
Chapter 5. The Cold War: Soviet Policy Toward Poland and Hungary, 1956
Chapter 6. The Post-9/11 Era: Regime Change and Rogues, Iraq 2003, Libya 2003, and Libya 2011
Conclusion
Appendices
1. Foreign-Imposed Regime Change, 1816-2007
2. A Game Theoretic Model of Regime Change
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
