Compressibility

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UNIT 5: WAR AS POLICY INSTRUMENT IN CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY

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ECOWAS members- Ghana, Guinea, Sierra-Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and others.

Anglophone ECOWAS members established ECOMOG in 1990 to intervene in the civil war in Liberia (1989-1996). The arguments used to establish ECOMOG had more solid grounds in politics than in law. The Defence Protocol’s guidelines were not followed, and ECOMOG was justified largely on humanitarian grounds. Within Africa, ECOMOG represented the first credible attempt at a regional security initiative since the defunct OAU tried to establish an ‘Inter-African Force’ to intervene in Chad in 1981.

ECOMOG successfully restored an atmosphere that permitted the reinstatement of a functional state structure in Liberia. It also engaged in the process of re-establishing the authority of the democratic order and ending a nine-year savage civil war in the Republic of Sierra-Leone, Liberia again and Guinea Bissau.

3.2. American’s Operations in Iraq

The Persian Gulf War codenamed ‘Operation Desert Storm’ (January 17, 1991 - 28 February, 1991) commonly referred to simply as the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq troops was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. United States President Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition and the initial operation to expel Iraq from Kuwait started with an aerial bombardment on 17 January, 1991. This was followed by a ground assault on 23 February. This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraq territory. The coalition ceased their advance and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the ground campaign started.

The Second Iraq War or Operation Iraqi Freedom involved a combined troops from the U.S., the UK, Australia, Poland and others who invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Husein . According to President George Bush of the US and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the coalition mission ‘was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism and to free the Iraqi people.

The invasion met with little resistance and Baghdad was occupied and the government of Hussein collapsed.

65 3.3. The U.S. Invasion of Panama

The United States invasion of Panama codenamed ‘Operation Just Cause’ was the invasion of Panama by the U.S. in December, 1989 during the administration of US President George Bush (snr). During the invasion, the de facto Panamanian leader, general and dictator, Manuel Noriega was deposed and the Panamanian Defense Force dissolved. The U.S official justification for the invasion was articulated on the morning of December 20, 1989 a few hours after the start of the operation. The reasons for the invasion were listed as ‘to safeguard the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama; defend democracy and human rights in Panama; combating drug trafficking and protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Although Noriega remained at large for several days, he was hunted massively and with few options left for him, he took refuge inside the Vatican diplomatic mission in Panama City. But, in the face of U.S. psychological pressure on him though the ‘rock and roll music’, he surrendered and was taken to the U.S to face trial.

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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

Using the ECOMOG operation as a case study, evaluate the use of military power (war) as an instrument of foreign policy

4.0. CONCLUSION

The three case studies examined in this Unit have shown the potency of military power as an instrument of foreign policy. It was clear from the case studies that without the deployment of military power, other policy instruments would have proved ineffective in achieving the policy goals at stake in those contexts.

5.0. SUMMARY

The case studies examined were used to illustrate Clausewitz’s definition of war as a

‘continuation of political discourse by other means’. No other means could have been successful without the deployment of military power in Liberia, Sierra-Leone and in Iraq to salvage an impending humanitarian disaster. We have also shown that the deployment of military power were the last resort after every other peaceful means of conflict resolution had been explored without success.

66 6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Under what conditions military power could be used successfully as instrument of state power?

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Clausewitz, Von, (1908) ‘On War’ (translated by Graham, J.J.) reprinted London:

Routledge, 1966

Hart, Liddel (1967) Strategy: The Indirect Approach, London : Faber, 6^th Edition Herzog, A. (1963) The War-Peace Establishment. New York and London: Harper and Row

Kegley, Charles and Wittkopf Eugene (1999) World Politics, Trend and Transformation (Seventh Edition) (New York: Worth Publishers)

Lorenz, Konrad (1963) On Aggression (New York : Harcourt, Brace and World) Morgenthau, H.J. (1956) Politics among Nations. New York: Alfred A Knopf

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