The Cobra Effect of U.S. Foreign Intervention in the Middle East and Africa
School Name
Governor's School for Science and Mathematics
Grade Level
12th Grade
Presentation Topic
Psychology and Sociology
Presentation Type
Mentored
Abstract
American foreign aid and intervention has been a central point of debate for as long as the nation has existed. United States mediation has many goals, chief among these being the promotion of peace, security, economic development, and humanitarian advancements. Despite these goals and the trillions of dollars spent to achieve them, life around the world, especially in areas of great turmoil, has not clearly improved. In many cases, it has gotten worse since an intervention by the United States. This study traces the effects of intervention events as they spread from their origin into other countries around the world. Most emphasis was put on The CIA’s Operation Cyclone in the 1970s and 1980s, new and existing alliances with the United States, and the War in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s. Time was also spent looking at various smaller intervention and aid events, such as CIA assisted coups, arm sales, and aid distributions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iran. We used various governance, development, and humanitarian indicators as well as more tangible data such as death tolls and monetary expenditure to trace the outcomes of these events for the years between 1979-2016. In many cases, the results were contradictory to what was expected by the Government of the United States. The perverse incentives (and armament) they gave to the peoples of the regions came back to cost them.
Recommended Citation
Mulvaney, Michael, "The Cobra Effect of U.S. Foreign Intervention in the Middle East and Africa" (2018). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 99.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2018/all/99
Location
Neville 305
Start Date
4-14-2018 9:00 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
The Cobra Effect of U.S. Foreign Intervention in the Middle East and Africa
Neville 305
American foreign aid and intervention has been a central point of debate for as long as the nation has existed. United States mediation has many goals, chief among these being the promotion of peace, security, economic development, and humanitarian advancements. Despite these goals and the trillions of dollars spent to achieve them, life around the world, especially in areas of great turmoil, has not clearly improved. In many cases, it has gotten worse since an intervention by the United States. This study traces the effects of intervention events as they spread from their origin into other countries around the world. Most emphasis was put on The CIA’s Operation Cyclone in the 1970s and 1980s, new and existing alliances with the United States, and the War in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s. Time was also spent looking at various smaller intervention and aid events, such as CIA assisted coups, arm sales, and aid distributions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iran. We used various governance, development, and humanitarian indicators as well as more tangible data such as death tolls and monetary expenditure to trace the outcomes of these events for the years between 1979-2016. In many cases, the results were contradictory to what was expected by the Government of the United States. The perverse incentives (and armament) they gave to the peoples of the regions came back to cost them.
