This thread is prompted, in part, by this statement from Robert Kagan (h/t @mcneillcasey for highlighting it) in a new @ForeignAffairs piece.pic.twitter.com/zfR2v30xV9
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Because it apparently needs to be said: "Imperial Policing" is not a good model for US foreign policy to imitate. [THREAD]
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Here is the full articlehttps://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-02-16/superpower-it-or-not …
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But Kagan is not alone in expressing this view.
@MaxBoot wrote a@washingtonpost piece back in 2019...https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-us-cant-win-the-wars-in-afghanistan-and-syria--but-we-can-lose-them/2019/01/30/e440c54e-23ea-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html …Näytä tämä ketju -
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This sentiment can be picked up even in a recent
@CNN piece by@madeleine &@FedericaMoghttps://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/opinions/nato-afghanistan-biden-albright-mogherini/index.html …Näytä tämä ketju -
To be clear: Albright & Mogherini are not calling for indefinite "policing" in the same manner as Boot & Kagan. But they do write how the US must hold the Taliban "accountable" & shouldn't leave Afghanistan while there remains the potential for it to become a terrorist haven.pic.twitter.com/Jzmw02XqI0
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So what these pieces share is a advocacy for staying in Afghanistan (or other places where the US is engaged in "low-level war") in order to prevent a greater threat from arising. That is the core idea behind "Imperial Policing"
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The term was coined in the 1930s to describe how Britain was adapting its post-WWI army for colonial policyhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402399608437654?journalCode=fjss20 …
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Specifically, Charles Gwynn, a retired Major in the British Army...pic.twitter.com/zHBGkYtqh2
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...published a book in 1934 by the title "Imperial Policing".https://books.google.com/books/about/Imperial_Policing.html?id=49Lx_oa709AC …
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The book, which was to become an official field manual for the British Army, called for lighter forces to maintain control with firm & timely action. This would prevent worse violence from arising. See
@RJohnsonCCW1's informative exploration of the policyhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03086534.2015.1083221?casa_token=t1jiqYYDplAAAAAA%3ADtQ7I8vxOddEZS3h6LqBcJnj4kesWENJ13_L1VMmuklUd3yqdjygvaMvhJUSpdWVf9udRjjc9r4 …Näytä tämä ketju -
This approach was attractive in an budget environment marked by the "10-year rule": the armed forces should draft their estimates "on the assumption that the British Empire would not be engaged in any great war during the next ten years"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03071847109425987?journalCode=rusi19 …
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So "imperial policing" is a budget-conscience means of preventing large-scale revolts in the later years of the British Empire.
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Since that time, the US isn't the only actor that has been accused of continuing the model. Indeed, some see UN peacekeeping as an application of the policy.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13533312.2010.516652?casa_token=mtoKffpP86IAAAAA%3AKTv7U-6kUBtg56LEVsviVqq63xcEDTPZF-egP9jYO-uKopgOBtL0hq1wso2vWno1IRm9jS_lV_k …
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What is wrong with this model? First, it is designed to "never end". The forces must always be present.
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As
@JoshRovner1 wrote in@WarOnTheRocks: "This vision does not imagine an end state, just as there is no moment in which police can declare victory over crime."https://warontherocks.com/2017/11/the-war-on-terrorism-as-imperial-policing/ …Näytä tämä ketju -
Second, it can lead to a blending of "military" and actual police functions, which can then be brought back to the home country.
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This process is detailed for the British by Georgina Sinclair & Chris Williams...https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03086530701337567?casa_token=NAi-MT27BvQAAAAA%3AEa-GLwY7hv4Ad8SpZLuWDin2bkxIQ87sR9sJltzc-70wc1gMW5LOKefL-B0w8w_l1oYQZjZnC44 …
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... &
@stschrader1 shows that it is happening for the US.https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295629/badges-without-borders …Näytä tämä ketju -
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Focusing on Afghanistan, the Cost of War at
@WatsonInstitute tracked the costs... https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/Näytä tämä ketju -
... and a
@BBCNews story shows that the budgetary cost by Feb of last year was 3/4 of a trillion (with a "T") dollars...https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47391821 …Näytä tämä ketju -
...though a
@nytimes article from 2019 puts the overall budgetary cost at nearly $2 Trillionhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/09/world/middleeast/afghanistan-war-cost.html …Näytä tämä ketju -
Fourth, does the US really want to emulate a policy associated with empire?
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All of this says nothing about the human costs. For instance, see this recent article by
@leoniconnah in South Asia Researchhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0262728020964609 …Näytä tämä ketju -
Overall, a policy designed for the British to maintain it's empire "on the cheap" is probably not a policy the US should associate itself. [END]
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