Allies in crisis : America's choice between security interests and democratic values

• Main Author: DK Nur Asyura Pg Hj Mohd Salleh
• Other Authors: Evan Resnick
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science::International relations
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105774; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48830
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study aims to highlight factors that are critical in shaping America’s different policy responses towards allies experiencing a democratic crisis. In this crisis, the population of an allied state demonstrates a severe lack of trust in the ally’s political leadership. By branching beyond international relations theory and adopting a heavily inductive approach which pursues a structured and focused comparison research method, this study investigates how various factors and domestic actors can influence different foreign policy outcomes in three case studies. These cases are America’s democracy subversion, passive democracy promotion, and active democracy promotion policy responses towards Chile, South Korea, and the Philippines respectively. This study contributes to a very important but-understudied area on US foreign policy towards democratic progress in other countries. The research also aims to contribute to policy relevant knowledge by helping academics and policy specialists better understand America’s role in today’s shifting liberal democratic order.