List of authoritarian regimes supported by the United States

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Reunion of SEATO leaders in Manila, 1966, with the presence of authoritarian leaders Nguyen Cao Ky from South Vietnam (first from left, with Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt at his side), Park Chung-Hee from South Korea (third from the left), Ferdinand Marcos from Philippines (fourth from the left, with New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake at his right) and Thanom Kittikachorn from Thailand (second from the right, with US President Lyndon B. Johnson at his side)

Over the last century, the United States government has often provided, and continues to provide today, financial assistance, education, arms, military training and technical support to numerous authoritarian regimes across the world. A variety of reasons have been provided to justify the apparent contradictions between support for dictators and the democratic ideals expressed in the United States Constitution.[1]

Prior to the Russian Revolution, support for dictators was often based on furthering American economic and political priorities, such as opening foreign markets to American manufacturers. Following the rise of communism, the United States government also began to support authoritarian regimes that it felt were combating movements aligned with communism, including socialist and democratic socialist movements, especially in Latin America.[2][3] Such assistance continued despite the belief expressed by many that this contradicted the political ideals espoused by the US during the Cold War.[4] Support was also geared toward ensuring a conducive environment for American corporate interests abroad, such as the United Fruit Company or Standard Oil, especially when these interests came under threat from democratic governments.[1][4][5] Support for authoritarian regimes has been justified under various ideological frameworks as well, including the Truman Doctrine, the Kirkpatrick Doctrine and the "War on Drugs".[1]

From the 1980s onwards, the United States government began to fear that its interests would be threatened by the increasingly popular Islamist movements in the Middle East, and began to work to secure cooperative authoritarian regimes in the region, while isolating and weakening, but not always removing, uncooperative ones.[6] In recent years, many policy analysts and commentators have expressed support for this type of policy, with some believing that regional stability is more important than democracy.[7][8] The United States continues to support authoritarian regimes today. However, international relations scholar David Skidmore believes that increased public pressure is motivating a shift away from supporting authoritarian regimes, and towards supporting more consensual regimes instead.[9]

Authoritarian regimes supported

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Current president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, September 2009, one of the most repressive regimes in the world,[10] supported with millions of dollars in military aid.[11]
Middle East special envoy Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein on 19–20 December 1983.
Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C., 1973.
Presidents Emílio G. Médici (left) and Richard Nixon, December 1971. A hardliner, Médici sponsored the greatest human rights abuses of Brazil's military regime. During his government, persecution and torture of dissidents, harassment against journalists and press censorship became ubiquitous. A 2014 report by Brazil's National Truth Commission states that the United States of America was involved with teaching the Brazilian military regime torture techniques.[12]
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shaking hands with Augusto Pinochet in 1976.
Date of support Country Regime Notes
1876–1911 Mexico Porfirio Díaz[13] During the Porfiriato, tensions between the U.S. and Mexico were high.
1929–2000 Mexico Institutional Revolutionary Party[14]
1908–1935 Venezuela Juan Vicente Gómez[15]
1898–1920 Guatemala Manuel Estrada Cabrera[16]
1931–1944 Guatemala Jorge Ubico[16]
1952–1959 Cuba Fulgencio Batista[17]
1930–1961 Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo[18] Later overthrown with at least some aid from the CIA.[19]
1954–1986 Guatemala Efraín Ríos Montt Junta[20][21] See also: 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
1979–1982 El Salvador Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador[22]
1971–1978 Bolivia Hugo Banzer[23]
1976–1983 Argentina National Reorganization Process[24]
1964–1985 Brazil Brazilian military government[12][25]
1936–1979 Nicaragua Somoza family[26]
1957–1971 Haiti François Duvalier[27]
1971–1986 Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier[27]
1968–1981 Panama Omar Torrijos[28]
1983–1989 Panama Manuel Noriega[28] Later overthrown by U.S. in Operation Just Cause in 1989.
1954–1989 Paraguay Alfredo Stroessner[29]
1973–1990 Chile Augusto Pinochet[30]
1948–1960 South Korea[31] Syngman Rhee
1958–1969 Pakistan Ayub Khan See also: Pakistan–United States relations during the Cold War era.
1991–present Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev
Ilham Aliyev[32][33]
1991–present Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev[34][35]
1961–1979 South Korea Park Chung-hee[36]
1979–1988 South Korea Chun Doo-hwan[37]
1955–1963 South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem[38] Later assassinated in a U.S.-backed coup. See also: Cable 243, Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1970–1975 Cambodia Lon Nol[39]
1969–1971 Pakistan Yahya Khan[40][41]
1941–1979 Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi[42][43] See also: 1953 Iranian coup d'état.
1985–1987 Iran Ruhollah Khomeini[44] See also: Iran–Contra affair.
1965–1986 Philippines Ferdinand Marcos[45][46]
1978–1988 Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq[47]
1982–1990 Iraq Saddam Hussein[47] Later seen as an enemy of the U.S. in the Gulf War and deposed in the Iraq War. See: United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war.
1956–1968 Indonesia Suharto[48][49] See also: Allen Lawrence Pope.
1959–present Singapore People's Action Party [50][50][51]
1984–present Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah[52][53][54][55]
2011–present Vietnam Trương Tấn Sang[56]
2014–present Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha[57]
1949–1953 Syria al-Za'im-Shishkali-al-Hinnawi Junta[58][59][60] See: Husni al-Za'im, Adib Shishakli, Sami al-Hinnawi.
1990–present Uzbekistan Islam Karimov[56]
1999–2008 Pakistan Pervez Musharraf[61]
1990–2012 Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh[62]
1994–present Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon[56]
2006–present Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow[56]
1945–present Saudi Arabia House of Saud[63][64][65]
1999–present Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa[66]
1995–2013 Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani[67]
1970–present Oman Qaboos bin Said al Said[65]
1954–present Jordan Hashemite Dynasty[68][69]
1994–present United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates[70]
1961–1999 Morocco King Hassan II[71]
1969–1985 Sudan Gaafar Nimeiry[72]
1980–1990 Liberia Samuel Doe[73]
1991–2012 Ethiopia Meles Zenawi[56]
1979–present Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo[56]
1965–1997 Zaire, Democratic Republic of the Congo Mobutu Sese Seko[74][75]
1982–1990 Chad Hissène Habré[76]
1981–2011 Egypt Hosni Mubarak[77]
2012–2013 Egypt Mohamed Morsi[78]
1990–present Chad Idriss Déby[79]
1986–present Uganda Yoweri Museveni[80]
1987–2011 Tunisia Zine El Abidine Ben Ali[81]
2000–present Rwanda Paul Kagame[82]
1936–1975 Spain Francisco Franco[83] At times opposed diplomatically because of fascist leanings. See: Francoist Spain.
1933–1974 Portugal António de Oliveira Salazar[84]
1941–1945 Soviet Union Joseph Stalin[85] Later considered an enemy of the US. See Cold War.
1967–1974 Greece Greek military junta[86]
1980–1989 Turkey Turkish military junta[87]
1969–1989 Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu[88]
1941–1975 Republic of China Chiang Kai-Shek[89]
1948–1957 Thailand Plaek Phibunsongkhram[90]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Turkmenistan: Recent Developments and US Interests. Jim Nichol. Congressional Research Service. August 17, 2012.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Adam Taylor (10 December 2014). Brazil’s torture report brings a president to tears. The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
    • "Notably, the report found that the United States had spent years teaching the torture techniques to the Brazilian military during that period."
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Noam Chomsky. Hegemony or Survival. p. 64
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Thomas M. Leonard (ed). Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 3. p. 1572.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Ríos Montt Genocide Verdict Annulled, But Activists Ensure US-Backed Crimes Will Never Be Forgotten. Democracy Now! May 23, 2013.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Hugo Banzer. The Guardian. 5 May 2002.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Laurence Whitehead (ed). The International Dimensions of Democratization : Europe and the Americas. p. 148
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Nicholls, David. "Haiti since 1930", in Leslie Bethell, Ed., The Cambridge History of Latin America. 1st ed. Vol. 7. Cambridge: 1990. 545-578.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 R.M. Koster and Guillermo Sánchez, In the Time of Tyrants, Panama: 1968-1990. (NY and London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1990), Ch. 4.
  29. ↑ Diana Jean Schemo (16 August 2006). Stroessner, Paraguay’s Enduring Dictator, Dies. The New York Times. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Thomas M. Leonard (ed). Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 3. p. 1365
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Bush and Kazakh Leader Play Up Partnership, The New York Times
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Pyŏng-guk Kim, Ezra F. Vogel (eds). The Park Chung Hee Era. p. 552
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ David P. Chandler, A history of Cambodia, Westview Press; Allen & Unwin, Boulder, Sydney, 1992
  40. ↑ John McLeod. The History of India.p. 152
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ CIA Admits To Iran 1953 Coup, But Revelations Unlikely To Thaw US-Tehran Relations. International Business Times. August 19, 2013.
  44. ↑ The Iran-Contra Affair 20 Years On. The National Security Archive (George Washington University), 2006-11-24
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran. Foreign Policy. August 26, 2013.
  48. ↑ Former Indonesian Dictator, US Ally & Mass Murderer, Suharto, 86, Dies. Democracy Now! 28 January 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  49. ↑ Kai Thaler (December 2, 2015). 50 years ago today, American diplomats endorsed mass killings in Indonesia. Here’s what that means for today. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 56.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ The struggle for Syria The Syrian people are being sacrificed at the altar of US imperialism, says author.,
  59. ↑ 1949-1958, Syria: Early Experiments in Cover Action, Douglas Little, Professor, Department of History, Clark University
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ Sean L. Yom & F. Gregory Gause III, "Resilient Royals: How Arab Monarchies Hang On" in Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World (eds. Larry Diamond & Marc F. Plattner: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), p. 124 ("Further, U.S. support for the regime's authoritarians orientation remains steady for geopolitical reasons: Qatar hoses a large U.S. airbase and adopts foreign-policy positions that enhance U.S. interests, such as backing the Western intervention in Libya").
  68. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  69. ↑ Jordan: Background and U.S. Relations, Jeremy M. Sharp, March 2015
  70. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  71. ↑ In 1777 during the American Revolution, Morocco became the first nation to recognize the fledgling United States as an independent nation. The U.S. has had supportive relations with Morocco since. This included the U.S. providing weapons systems to Morocco during the Cold War and since. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  72. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  73. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  74. ↑ Mobutu, Zairian Dictator for 32 Years, Dies in Exile. The Los Angeles Times. September 08, 1997
  75. ↑ David F. Schmitz. The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1965-1989. p. 9
  76. ↑ From U.S. Ally to Convicted War Criminal: Inside Chad's Hissène Habré's Close Ties to Reagan Admin. Democracy Now! May 31, 2016.
  77. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  79. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  80. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  81. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  82. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  83. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  84. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  85. ↑ The Soviet Union received substantial support from the U.S.after Nazi Germany invaded in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 to the end of the war in 1943, per the version of the Wikipedia articles accessed 2015-04-18 (and many other sources).
  86. ↑ Clinton concedes regret for U.S. support of Greek junta. The Topeka Capital-Journal. November 21, 1999.
  87. ↑ Birand, Mehmet Ali. 12 Eylül, Saat: 04.00, 1984, pg. 1
  88. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  89. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  90. ↑ Embracing the “enemy”: some aspects of the mutual relations between the United States and Thailand under field marshal Phibunsongkhram, 1948–1957

Further reading

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