User:Zuruguay/sandbox/List of authoritarian regimes supported by the United States

List of authoritarian regimes supported by the United States

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 anti-leftist and anti-Islamist 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.

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 socialistmovements, especially in Latin America.^[1][2] Such assistance continued despite the belief expressed by many that this contradicted the political ideals espoused by the US during the Cold War.^[3]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.^[4][3] 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".^[4]

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, weakening, or removing, uncooperative ones.^[5] 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.^[6][7] 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.^[8]

Authoritarian regimes currently supported

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Date of support	Country	Regime	Notes
1991–present	Azerbaijan	Heydar Aliyev; Ilham Aliyev[9][10]
1992–present	Kazakhstan	Nursultan Nazarbayev[11][12]
1959–present	Singapore	People's Action Party[13][13][14]
1984–present	Brunei	Hassanal Bolkiah[15][16][17][18]
2011–present	Vietnam	Trương Tấn Sang[19]
2014–present	Thailand	Prayut Chan-o-cha[20]
1994–present	Tajikistan	Emomali Rahmon[19]
2006–present	Turkmenistan	Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow[19]
1945–present	Saudi Arabia	House of Saud[21][22][23]
1999–present	Bahrain	Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa[24]
1972–present	Qatar	House of Thani[25][26]
1970–present	Oman	Qaboos bin Said al Said[23]
1954–present	Jordan	Hashemite Dynasty[27][28]
1971–present	United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates[29]
2014–present	Egypt	Abdel Fattah el-Sisi[30]
1777–present	Morocco	Alaouite dynasty[31]
1999–present	Djibouti	Ismaïl Omar Guelleh[32][33]
1979–present	Equatorial Guinea	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo[19]
1982–present	Cameroon	Paul Biya[34][35]
1990–present	Chad	Idriss Déby[36]
1986–present	Uganda	Yoweri Museveni[37]
2000–present	Rwanda	Paul Kagame[38]

Authoritarian regimes supported in the past

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Current president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, September 2009, one of the most repressive regimes in the world,^[39] supported with millions of dollars in military aid.^[40]

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 Commissionstates that the United States of America was involved with teaching the Brazilian military regime torture techniques.^[41]

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[42]	During the Porfiriato, tensions between the U.S. and Mexicowere high.
1929–2000	Mexico	Institutional Revolutionary Party[43]
1932–1944	El Salvador	Maximiliano Hernández Martínez[44]
1933–1949	Honduras	Tiburcio Carías Andino[45]
1950–1958	Venezuela	Marcos Pérez Jiménez[46]
1908–1935	Venezuela	Juan Vicente Gómez[47]
1898–1920	Guatemala	Manuel Estrada Cabrera[48]
1931–1944	Guatemala	Jorge Ubico[48]
1948–1956	Peru	Manuel Odria[49]
1952–1959	Cuba	Fulgencio Batista[50]
1930–1961	Dominican Republic	Rafael Trujillo[51]	Later overthrown with at least some aid from the CIA.[52]
1954–1986	Guatemala	Efraín Ríos Montt and other Juntas[53][54][55]	See also: 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
1963–1982	Honduras	Oswaldo López Arellano and other Juntas[56][57]
1979–1982	El Salvador	Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador[58]
1971–1978	Bolivia	Hugo Banzer[59]
1973–1985	Uruguay	Civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay[60][61]
1976–1983	Argentina	National Reorganization Process[62][63]
1964–1985	Brazil	Brazilian military government[41][64]
1936–1979	Nicaragua	Somoza family[65]
1957–1971	Haiti	François Duvalier[66]
1971–1986	Haiti	Jean-Claude Duvalier[66]
1968–1981	Panama	Omar Torrijos[67]
1983–1989	Panama	Manuel Noriega[67]	Later overthrown by U.S. in Operation Just Cause in 1989.
1954–1989	Paraguay	Alfredo Stroessner[68][69]
1973–1990	Chile	Augusto Pinochet[70][71]
1992–2000	Peru	Alberto Fujimori[72]
1948–1960	South Korea[73]	Syngman Rhee
1958–1969	Pakistan	Ayub Khan	See also: Pakistan–United States relations during the Cold War era.
1961–1979	South Korea	Park Chung-hee[74]
1979–1988	South Korea	Chun Doo-hwan[75]
1955–1963	South Vietnam	Ngo Dinh Diem[76]	Later assassinated in a U.S.-backed coup. See also: Cable 243, Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1970–1975	Cambodia	Lon Nol[77]
1969–1971	Pakistan	Yahya Khan[78][79][80]
1941–1979	Iran	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi[81][82]	See also: 1953 Iranian coup d'état.
1965–1986	Philippines	Ferdinand Marcos[83][84]
1978–1988	Pakistan	Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq[85]
1963–1967	Iraq	Abdul Salam Arif, Abdul Rahman Arif[86]
1982–1990	Iraq	Saddam Hussein[87]	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.
1967–1998	Indonesia	Suharto[88][89]	See also: Allen Lawrence Pope.
1949–1953	Syria	al-Za'im-Shishkali-al-Hinnawi Junta[90][91][92]	See: Husni al-Za'im, Adib Shishakli, Sami al-Hinnawi.
1999–2008	Pakistan	Pervez Musharraf[93]
1990–2016	Uzbekistan	Islam Karimov[19]
1990–2005	Kyrgyzstan	Askar Akayev[94]
1990–2012	Yemen	Ali Abdullah Saleh[95]
1969–1985	Sudan	Gaafar Nimeiry[96]
1978–1991	Somalia	Siad Barre[97]
1980–1990	Liberia	Samuel Doe[98]
1991–2012	Ethiopia	Meles Zenawi[19]
1965–1997	Zaire Democratic Republic of the Congo	Mobutu Sese Seko[99][100]
1982–1990	Chad	Hissène Habré[101]
1981–2011	Egypt	Hosni Mubarak[102]
2012–2013	Egypt	Mohamed Morsi[103]
1948–1994	South Africa	National Party (South Africa)[104][105]
1987–2011	Tunisia	Zine El Abidine Ben Ali[106]
1936–1975	Spain	Francisco Franco[107]	At times opposed diplomatically because of fascist leanings. See: Francoist Spain.
1933–1974	Portugal	António de Oliveira Salazar[108]	See Estado Novo (Portugal)
1941–1945	Soviet Union	Joseph Stalin[109]	Later considered an enemy of the US. See Cold War.
1948–1980	Yugoslavia	Josip Broz Tito[110]	See Informbiro period.
1967–1974	Greece	Greek military junta[111]
1980–1989	Turkey	Turkish military junta[112]
1969–1989	Romania	Nicolae Ceaușescu[113]
1941–1975	Republic of China	Chiang Kai-shek[114]
1948–1957	Thailand	Plaek Phibunsongkhram[115]
1963–1973	Thailand	Thanom Kittikachorn[116]
1958–1963	Thailand	Sarit Thanarat[117]

See also

• Foreign policy of the United States
• History of the Central Intelligence Agency
• List of authoritarian regimes supported by the Soviet Union
• Operation Condor
• Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly called the School of the Americas)
  • School of the Americas Watch, advocacy group critical of the above
• United States and state-sponsored terrorism
• United States and state terrorism

References

1. ↑ Adams, Francis (2003). Deepening democracy: global governance and political reform in Latin America. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 31. ISBN 9780275979713
2. ↑ McMahon, Robert J. (1999). The limits of empire: the United States and Southeast Asia since World War II. Columbia University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780231108805.
3. 1 2 Grandin & Joseph, Greg & Gilbert (2010). A Century of Revolution. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 397–414.
4. 1 2 DeConde, Alexander et al., eds. (2001). "Dictatorships". Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, Volume 1. Simon & Schuster. p. 499. ISBN 9780684806570.
5. ↑ Forrest, James J.F. (2007). Countering terrorism and insurgency in the 21st century: international perspectives, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. pp. 68–69. ISBN 9780275990367.
6. ↑ Etzioni, Amitai (2007). Security first: for a muscular, moral foreign policy. Yale University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780300108576.
7. ↑ Beyer, Cornelia (2008). Violent globalisms: conflict in response to empire. Ashgate Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 9780754672050.
8. ↑ Skidmore, David (1997). Contested social orders and international politics. Vanderbilt University Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780826512840.
9. ↑ "Azerbaijan". freedomhouse.org.