Global Studies

The US plan for "promoting democracy" in Iraq is an integral component of its overall interventionist project in the Middle East. US rulers are deeply divided over the invasion and occupation of Iraq and they face an expanding foreign policy crisis. Nonetheless, there is consensus among them, and among transnational elites more generally, on political intervention under the rubric of "democracy promotion." Such political intervention is not just a Republican, much less a Bush regime, policy. As such, it plays a key legitimating function and can be expected to become a central component of overall US strategy in Iraq in the coming months and years.