For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want is
T
he ceasefire between Iran and Israel might still hold, but if not, the United States might double down on its weekend strikes and seek the overthrow of the Iranian regime. Donald Trump threatened this in comments and tweets earlier, and top officials such as Marco Rubio have said they wouldn’t mind it if it happened. Israeli leaders are openly in favor. If the US goes down this road, it will not be for the first time.
In the last 80 years, Washington has overthrown many regimes. For a superpower, toppling foreign governments is not so hard to do. Getting the outcome you want is. This makes regime change as dangerous as it is seductive, as past US attempts clearly show.
The US overthrow of the Japanese and German governments in the second world war made a whole generation of American leaders too optimistic about regime change. Germany’s and Japan’s transformation into strong democratic allies was a source of inspiration for the regime changes that dotted the cold war – but a misleading one. The only successful changer of regimes in the two centuries before had been Napoleon Bonaparte – and his regimes were fleeting.
