The US administration uses the term ‘rogue states’ to determine those states in which regimes can be discussed as threatening to global peace. The political regimes in such countries as Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are based on the principles of terrorism and violation of human rights. Starting to discuss certain states as ‘rogue’ during the period of the Cold War, the USA developed definite foreign policies concerning these states oriented toward changing the threatening regime and providing the peace in the region. The characteristic feature of the US policy regarding rogue states is the active position and the focus on realizing the active actions which can contribute to changing the regime and preventing the expansion of terrorism and violation of human rights globally. The evolution of the US policy toward rogue states can be analyzed with references to the US-Libya relations.
During the 20th century, the United States followed the strict policy of non-ignorance regarding the potential risks of developing terrorism and authoritarian regimes in the world. That is why the foreign policy of the country concerning Libya, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea was oriented to directing the regime change and to maintaining stability in the region. Despite the fact, the position of the USA was active during the three decades of developing the policy, the level of the state’s participation in resolving the question of the rogue states’ global isolation was always different. The period of George W. Bush’s administration is characterized by developing the Global War on Terror. As a result, the level of the US involvement in assistance activities to rogue states increased.
Moreover, the waves of the US administration’s involvement in the global war on terrorism depended on changes in the politics of rogue states. According to Litwak, “depending on the target country, the objective is to precipitate a change either in the regime or in behavior” (Litwak, 2004, p. 5). From this point, the changes in the US policy and methods depended on changes in the threat level for global peace. This tendency can be examined with references to the case of Libya.
During the 1980s-1990s, Libya ruled according to the authoritarian regime of Muammar Gaddafi could not revitalize its politics. In this situation, the role of the USA was to prevent the negative impact of the state’s development on global peace concerning the fact of Gaddafi’s support of terrorism. The situation changed in the 2000s when Gaddafi revised his approach to terrorism (Sikkema, 2011). The improvement of the states’ relations was observed. Nevertheless, the beginning of the Civil War in 2011 led to changing the approaches to relations with the state’s leaders and to providing certain operations to guarantee to preserve stability in the world. Thus, the US administration reacted to the changes in Libya politics actively and immediately.
From this point, it is necessary to note that the evolution of the US policy toward rogue states depends on the changes within these countries, which can lead to improving the situation or to developing threatening regimes and terrorism. The US active participation in the development of these states, and the principle of non-ignorance is based on the necessity to preserve world peace.
References
Litwak, R. (2000). Rogue states and U.S. foreign policy: Containment after the Cold War. USA: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.
Sikkema, P. (2011). U.S. policy and the Libyan dilemma. Web.