Democracy in Post-Invasion Panama: Theory and Case

Abstract

Can democracy emerge from a military invasion by an extraterritorial power? Can external forces influence positively the development of national institutions conducive to stable democratic regimes? Can these same forces change elite and mass political attitudes and behavior in a ways that help rather than hinder the process of democratization? Given the history of United States military interventions in Latin America and Southeast Asia in the twentieth century and Iraq and Afghanistan in the twenty-first century, these questions have consumed the attention of scholars and policy makers for decades. Books with provocative titles such as Gunboat Democrac. (Crandall 2006), Democracy at the Point of Bayonet. (Peceny 1999), and Democracy by Forc. (von Hippel 2000) have explored the history and consequences of United States military intervention in the developing world with varying conclusions, often examining the same cases. The first two, by Russell Crandall and Mark Peceny, find evidence that U.S. interventions have a positive influence on democratization; the latter, by Karin von Hippel, questions the results of military interventions. A dearth of scholarly research, however, has examined in-depth the political, institutional, social, and cultural changes resulting in the aftermath of a U.S. military intervention. This book seeks to fill this vacuum by examining the case of Panama.