Browsing by Author "Avey, Paul C."

Now showing 1 - 17 of 17
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    An Analysis of President Trump's Afghanistan Foreign Policy: Through the Theoretical Framework of Walter Russell Mead's Four Paradigms
    Santoro, Patrick Thomas (Virginia Tech, 2020-05-26)
    The purpose of this thesis was to analyze President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy and to determine if it fits the mold of one of the four historical foreign policy paradigms as described by Walter Russell Mead in his book, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World. Mead describes four U.S. foreign policy schools of thought, in which he titles after influential statesmen who embody the specific school's core principles. These paradigms include the Hamiltonians, who believe in a strong relationship between big business and government for foreign policy success. The Wilsonians, who encourage the spread of democratic principles abroad. The Jeffersonians, who favor the protection of domestic liberal democracy over other foreign policy endeavors. Lastly, the Jacksonians, who prioritize the physical and economic security of American citizens above all else. The primary research question in this thesis states, which of the four traditions of U.S. foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead helps explain President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy? President Trump's rhetoric and specific foreign policy actions were analyzed. His rhetoric was examined through his August 2017 Afghanistan Strategy speech and his specific foreign policy actions were measured through various air operation metrics, U.S. aid to Afghanistan, and U.S. troop deployment trends. Overall, this thesis gave support to my hypothesis that President Trump's Afghanistan foreign policy contains various Hamiltonian and Wilsonian principles, but it has proven to be principally Jacksonian.
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    The Buddhist and the Khaek: A Study of the Thai State's Ontological Security and Self-Identity
    Chatikavanij, Wansit (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-21)
    This thesis seeks to examine and analyze the manifestations of the ontological security and self-identity anxiety of the Thai states through its rhetoric in relation to Thai and Malayu Muslims. The main question being posed in this thesis is how the Thai state justified the use of force during the Tak Bai Incident in 2004 and the Ratchaprasong bombing in 2015. This thesis examines the rhetoric of the Thai state through speeches and media before, during, and after in the selected cases. Such rhetoric involves the framing and constructions of "Thainess" or Thai identity in relation to the "other" or Thai and Malayu Muslims during the events. This framing is related to ethno, religious, and cultural nationalism and draws on those narratives. The theory that this research draws from is the Ontological Security theory by Jennifer Mitzen and Brent Steele which allows us to analyze the Thai state's actions and identity construction during the events. Ontological security is the security of the self, which all states strive for since it is linked to self-identity constructions. States will take actions that are at times detrimental to the physical self in order to protect ontological security because it is crucial to its survival. The methodological approach draws from Roxanne Lynn Doty's Discursive Practices Approach which allows us to examine how power and roles are constructed from rhetoric. The key results show that both the Tak Bai Incident and Ratchaprasong bombing disrupted the Thai state's ontological security and self-identity construction. In response, the Thai state engages in security-seeking behavior by reconstructing its self-identity in relation to the Thai and Malayu Muslims in order to regain its sense of ontological security. In doing so, the Thai state and media use rhetoric such as "Farang" and "Khaek" to define the Thai and Malayu Muslims as different and inferior subjects to the Buddhist majority. This enables the Thai state to justify its use of force in order to regain control over its compromised ontological security by way of military actions and violence. We see that the Thai state's perception of ontological security derived from its attachment to routines which had now been associated with the attachment to the conflict. This attachment had allowed the Thai state a sense of certainty since it knew how to act in the face of challenges. Attachment to routines thus allows the Thai state to dispel uncertainty which causes disruptions to its self-identity by creating anxiety. In analyzing the Thai state's rhetoric during these events, various identities of who is and is not Thai can be noted. These are then used to justify and legitimate the use of force by the Thai state as it seeks to protect and safeguard its ontological security.
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    COINTELPRO and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Classification of Threats
    David, Alyssa Michelle (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-15)
    COINTELPRO was a formidable and extremely controversial counterintelligence program conducted by the FBI from 1956 to 1971. Its exposure showcased the covert methods in which the FBI targeted US citizens it identified as threats to the internal and domestic security of the United States. Since the program's end, the FBI continues to explore and identify the current and potential threats to the United States. However, what exactly does this program say about the FBI at the time of its inception and what does it say about how it had classified threats? And what could it tell us about how it classifies threats today? This study examines how the FBI treated two identified targets of COINTELPRO, "black extremists" and "white hate groups", and whether the differences found between the treatment of the two targets as threats was a result of internal or external institutional factors. In conducting such study, I seek to determine if the factors that influence the Bureau's threat classification may have either been internal, a result of the Directors' influence or the influence of the organization's structure, culture, and/or function, or external, a result of the President's or Congress' influence. I hypothesize that the differing treatment of these targets, where "black extremists" were identified and prioritized as more of a threat than "white hate groups", was a result of internal institutional factors within the Bureau. Within this study, I examine reports and memos from the FBI database, the Vault, from 1968, to best determine which hypothesis is more accurate.
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    European Union Policy Against Energy Coercion: An Analysis of EU Energy Security Policy
    Reaves, Jeff W. (Virginia Tech, 2019-05-31)
    Energy Security is a necessity of modern society and as technology and society evolve so does the requirement to secure energy to provide stability for state governments. Europe is in a transition period of increasing cohesion and integration, and Russia is leveraging its natural resources to conduct disruption campaigns coupled with energy coercion tactics. The EU is developing and has implemented policies conducive of energy security that requires member-states to enhance stability through energy security both through supply and demand. The European Energy Security Strategy established a system of pillars that was designed to increase overall energy security through a multidimensional approach. The effectiveness of EU energy policy is a critical issue that must be examined in order to establish that European energy security policy can be used as an effective countermeasure to Russian energy coercion and initiatives.
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    The Failure of the Proposed European Defense Community and Its Implications on the European Union's Pursuit of Strategic Autonomy
    Bonifacio, Gerald Alexander (Virginia Tech, 2022-03-07)
    The EDC was a failed attempt at European integration in military and defense. This thesis intends to examine how and why the EDC failed and what it means for today. This thesis aims to understand what are the implications for the EDC's failure in the EU's efforts to gain strategic autonomy. This issue is important to many with interests in the European region. The failure of the EDC will be analyzed as a case study utilizing the theoretical framework of Neoclassical Realism. Constraints include language, lack of government transparency, and inherent limitations of case study research. This thesis will outline different theories and why Neoclassical Realism is chosen to evaluate the EDC; then it will examine the EDC during its negotiation and writing; then it will analyze the case from the perspective of each of the EDC participants, and then it will describe the implications of the EDC for the present situation. This thesis will examine the EDC from a theoretical standpoint. Because the EDC is a unique case of failed European integration, a broader International Relations theory will be used in this thesis. There are a number of theories regarding European integration and broader theories on International Relations. This thesis will examine the EDC from the Neoclassical Realist perspective. The Pleven Plan was to allow for the rearmament of Germany under conditions acceptable to France. The Plan was to solve the German rearmament dilemma. Proponents had to deal with nationalists who resisted relinquishing control of armed forces while also nurturing the European idea that called for more integration. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1952; the US and UK both called for its quick ratification. There were concerns among the treaty's signatories. Germany worried about a return of its army, its defense, and its acceptance in the West. Italy was concerned about integration, maintaining internal stability, and helping its economy. The smaller countries of the Benelux were in favor of the EDC to maximize their influence. France would struggle over ratification. Pierre Mendès-France had to deal with external pressure to get the EDC Treaty passed, and internal pressure to push for better terms. Gaullists were adamantly against the EDC. The French attempted to renegotiate the treaty to no avail. The National Assembly eventually voted against the EDC and the treaty failed ratification. The case of the EDC has implications for EU strategic autonomy. Russia presents a legitimate threat to the West. Globalization, technology, and non-traditional threats affect the security environment. The US is realigning its strategy to focus more on China, while Brexit removes the UK military assets from the EU. Finally, France has been driven to more seriously consider European strategic autonomy and a European Army after the AUKUS controversy. There are still obstacles to European defense. Strategic culture is a problem in Europe, especially in Germany. Nationalism and Euroscepticism continue to hinder further integration. The Europeans still rely heavily on US military might. EU efforts at strategic autonomy also cause consternation in NATO over redundancy. Finally, the EDC is an example of European integration taken too far, and a warning as to how difficult the EDU will be to achieve. The theoretical evaluation of the EDC reveals outcomes as expected in the theory. Each country calculated relative material power gain from the EDC, except France, which changed its calculation based on changes to the original Pleven Plan and popular pressure shaping leaders' perceptions. If there is going to be military integration and strategic autonomy in the EU, it will require a change in the strategic culture in Germany, so that the German military might be built up to ease the doubts of Eastern European EU members over the capability of such a European Army to supplant the US military in defense of the continent.
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    Knitting the Velvet Gauntlet: Goldwater-Nichols, the end of the Cold War, and the development of American defense diplomacy
    Greanias, George Christopher (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-04)
    The United States military is more than a tool of hard power. It provides the United States with a suite of diplomatic tools and is itself an important producer of American soft power. Though the many repertoires of American defense diplomacy have been carefully studied and the overall phenomenon has been theoretically investigated, their origins have not received similar attention. This research aims to uncover the causes of American defense diplomacy through an account of the American military's institutional development. It is common for defense diplomacy to be presented either as an outgrowth of 9/11 when the United States was engaged in globe-spanning irregular warfare or as part of a drive for global hegemony after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, this research finds otherwise. A key factor in the development of contemporary defense diplomacy was the suite of institutional changes in the American national security apparatus in the 1980s. In particular, the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 reconfigured the power relationships and interests of key elements of the US military thereby overdetermining the development of defense diplomacy. With this finding, this research centers Congress as a key driver of American foreign policy and highlights the sub-state institutional dynamics within the foreign policy apparatus that produced, and reproduce, defense diplomacy as an enduring habit of American statecraft.
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    Mare Imperium: the Evolution of Freedom of the Seas Discourse in U.S. Foreign Policy
    Donahue, Connor Patrick (Virginia Tech, 2020-10-07)
    This dissertation conducts a genealogy of freedom of the seas discourse in United States foreign policy in order to problematize the contemporary representation lying at the heart of American political-military strategy in the Western Pacific. This project aims to accomplish two goals. First, this project aims to show that freedom of the seas is not an enduring historical principle consistently championed by the United States, as is often claimed in contemporary governmental publications. Rather, it shows that the current understanding is a recent phenomenon that emerged after the Second World War. By highlighting the contingency of the contemporary understanding of freedom of the seas, this work seeks to show that such discourse is not a necessary foundation on which to place American political-military strategy. The second objective of this genealogical analysis is to show that the contemporary freedom of the seas discourse in U.S. foreign policy is not an altruistic principle championed on behalf of the global community, but rather facilitates American control over the global ocean space. By showing that freedom of the seas is a mechanism of sea control, this work aims to show that in an era of maritime great power competition, strategies predicated upon the discourse are more dangerous than would otherwise appear. Together, this genealogical analysis, and the two goals that are made possible by it, will make a substantive contribution to the critical strategic studies literature, in conjunction with the wider critical security studies literature, by showing that American political-military strategy in the South China Sea can and should be reconceptualized.
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    Reagan, Central America and the Human Costs to Waging the Cold War
    MacKoul, Matthew John (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-28)
    Since the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United States has maintained a sphere of influence in Latin America. This hegemony has yielded beneficial results, such as the Panama Canal, and at times, has caused more harm than good. The later result has been the dominant outcome beginning with 1954 and the Central Intelligence Agency's foray into Guatemala. U.S. foreign policy has enabled or sanctioned actions resulting in human rights abuses. This can be easily viewed through the Reagan Administration's re-ignition of Cold War politics based on realist international relations theory This particular foreign policy blueprint is based on one geo-political thought: Communist Rollback. Due to this, other concerns, such as human rights, were relegated to a lesser priority. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the extent to which U.S. foreign policy undermined human rights in Central America during the decade of the Reagan Administration. By understanding the effects of Reagan's singular focus, this thesis seeks to bring clarity to the deficiencies of current or potentially future foreign policy models. To understand the impact of U.S. foreign policy this thesis will explore three key case countries: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. These crossroads of policy between the Reagan Administration and their Central American counterparts will dictate decisions made publicly and secretly that will be the impetus of human rights abuses that are still being uncovered thirty years later. What we will discover is that, ultimately, containment policy failed to slow socialism as an alternative to capitalism and democracy in some of these states at the expense of the human rights of native citizens.
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    Russia's Foreign Policy in Eastern Europe: The Moldovan Question
    Marian, Svetlana (Virginia Tech, 2017-10-23)
    This thesis provides an empirical contribution to the existing literature regarding Russian foreign policy and its application in Russia's near abroad. The primary case study is Russian foreign policy instruments applied to the Eastern European country of Moldova. This thesis directly cites the Russian National Security Concept (RNSC) documents from 2000 and 2016 as the foundation for analysis of Russian foreign policy actions applied to both Eastern Europe and Moldova. A summation of the type of instruments used within Moldova, either "soft power" or "hard power" resources, citing specific examples of each, is included. The result of this thesis is a foundation for future research of Russian foreign policy based on Russian foreign policy documents, as it pertains to the former republics of the Soviet Union.
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    The Securitization of Cyberspace Through Technification
    Schwarz, Kevin James (Virginia Tech, 2016-07-07)
    This thesis adds to the literature surrounding technification in securitizing cyberspace by examining the role of technical experts in constituting threats in cyberspace at the level of the state. Furthermore, this thesis considers the impact of technocratic framing on the public's understanding of cyberspace and the historical conditions under which this framing developed.
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    Syria: In Need of Vision
    Baker, Nathen Michael (Virginia Tech, 2019-06-21)
    Possessing a vision to correct problems is an area of interest for leadership and political studies, as presumably vision provides the goal to orient upon and overcome problems, and should apply at all levels of leadership. The worsening situation in Syria since the end of the Cold War begs the questions of whether any recent U.S. President tried to address the issues in the relationship with Syria, and what was the vision the President sought to achieve. This study reviews Presidential rhetoric from President's News Conferences, major speeches and Executive Orders for a vision to ascertain the intended direction for U.S. policy for Syria. Also, the study reviews the leadership styles of the five Presidents for consistency and effectiveness in conveying a foreign policy message. Broadly, the study concludes that the Presidents need more than a strategy to engage other nation to fix problems. They need an achievable outcome to aim the U.S. government towards and to effectively broadcast their vision to a broad audience. It takes an appreciation for history, realistic expectations and an eye for the future to form a vision for a coherent way forward. Unfortunately, the Presidents in this study did not give the appropriate time or resources to correct the pervasive problems in Syria. Their overall policies ranged from incoherent to stagnant, therefore hampering the U.S. ability to guide progress fixing the situation.
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    Tempting Fate: Why Nonnuclear States Confront Nuclear Opponents
    Avey, Paul C. (Cornell University Press, 2019-11-15)
    Why would countries without nuclear weapons even think about fighting nuclear-armed opponents? A simple answer is that no one believes nuclear weapons will be used. But that answer fails to consider why nonnuclear state leaders would believe that in the first place. In this superb unpacking of the dynamics of conflict under conditions of nuclear monopoly, Paul C. Avey argues that the costs and benefits of using nuclear weapons create openings that weak nonnuclear actors can exploit. Tempting Fate uses four case studies to show the key strategies available to nonnuclear states: Iraqi decision-making under Saddam Hussein in confrontations with the United States; Egyptian leaders' thinking about the Israeli nuclear arsenal during wars in 1969–70 and 1973; Chinese confrontations with the United States in 1950, 1954, and 1958; and a dispute that never escalated to war, the Soviet-United States tensions between 1946 and 1948 that culminated in the Berlin Blockade. Those strategies include limiting the scope of the conflict, holding chemical and biological weapons in reserve, seeking outside support, and leveraging international non-use norms. Counterintuitively, conventionally weak nonnuclear states are better positioned to pursue these strategies than strong ones, so that wars are unlikely when the nonnuclear state is powerful relative to its nuclear opponent. Avey demonstrates clearly that nuclear weapons cast a definite but limited shadow, and while the world continues to face various nuclear challenges, understanding conflict in nuclear monopoly will remain a pressing concern for analysts and policymakers.
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    Tracing the Development of East African Community on Peace and Security
    Mwinyi, Mohamed Juma (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-08)
    One monumental problem the East African Community faces today is implementation of its proposed bill known as the East African Community Security Protocol on peace and security. This bill was crafted upon the basis of existing scholarship which examines security and community either from the top-down/state-centric approaches (neorealism/neoliberalism/constructivism/etc.) or as vernacular security--bottom-up. Both of these approaches are inadequate in that they still a) prioritize the state/relate to the state/central authority, b) are Eurocentric (based on/dominated by European points of views), and c) do not adequately explain security collaborations in areas such as East Africa (EA). Therefore, this thesis develop a "responsive security community" approach which does not only ties top-down and ground-up approach, but it also advocates for development of strong states before the creation of a security community. This thesis argue that different states have their very different historical backgrounds and legacies. Hence, in order to have effective security community in EA there need be responsive, human security oriented states which embrace participation and inclusion in sub-national and national level. This would ensure the protection of the vital core of all their citizens' lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment. To discuss this responsive community approach, this thesis analyzes the theories of security community post WW II in conjunction with the development of the East African Community Security Protocol. This thesis also employs the theories of Participatory Budgeting (PB) and ground up approach as models for strengthening state and East African Civil Society Organization Forum (EACSOF). This thesis concludes that responsive security community in EA requires strong states which combine a focus on traditional notions of security with human/individual security.
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    Tritium Matters: Constructing Nuclearity and Navigating Ambivalence of a Unique Material
    Loy, Taylor Andrew (Virginia Tech, 2024-07-10)
    This dissertation surveys the history of tritium beginning in Ernest Rutherford's lab in 1934 with its discovery and ending at the Fukushima Daiichi disaster site in 2023 when TEPCO began releasing tritiated wastewater into the Pacific ocean. In this time, expert conceptions of tritium have experienced interdependent and overlapping phases. Each phase is characterized by a dominant "nuclearity" and situated in context of "nuclear exceptionalism" (Hecht 2014) that directly and indirectly affects material conditions, elite decision-making, and radiological impacts on the environment and human health. Because it is pervasive, diffuse, and laborious to measure, a great deal of uncertainty surrounds tritium's contribution to radiological risks. Beyond various commercial and scientific uses, it is also integral to both nuclear energy as a waste and nuclear weapons as a mechanism for dramatically increasing explosive yields. This versatile and powerful material operates at the technological nexus of two existential risks for humanity: climate change and nuclear weapons. I divide the history of tritium into three distinct phases. First, super nuclearity characterizes early designs for the "superbomb" by Manhattan project scientists who believed vast amounts of tritium would be required. This phase extends to the late 1950s when thermonuclear warheads based on more feasible designs requiring significantly less tritium were beginning to be incorporated into the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile. Second, special nuclearity describes the status of tritium throughout the Cold War as a critical nuclear weapons material that was referred to and treated as a special nuclear material (SNM) in practice even though it was never legally defined as such. Third, byproduct nuclearity is the current post-Cold War paradigm defining tritium as a form of incidental waste or as an innocuous "other accountable material" intentionally produced by the nuclear fission process. While tritium's super nuclearity proved to be an animating fiction with political and material impacts on the early U.S. post war nuclear weapons program, tritium's special and byproduct nuclearities have since been fully embodied in technological artifacts—primarily nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants—and remain in dynamic tension. Tritium does not fit neatly into existing nuclearity narratives. It is accurately referred to as both "highly" and "weakly" radioactive. Having a half-life of ~12 years and being the lightest radioisotope, it has high activity by weight, but when it decays into stable helium-3 it emits only a relatively weak beta particle which poses a potential risk as internal dose. I argue that the nuclearity processes constituting various conceptualizations of tritium provide insight into navigating the complex sociotechnical relationships between humans and nuclear technology. Additionally, I anticipate tritium's next nuclearity transformation as reactor fuel for a still nascent fusion power industry. I argue that rather than allowing fusion energy proponents to dictate the next phase of tritium's nuclearity, efforts should be made to assess and synthesize salient aspects of this unique material to provide a more holistic accounting of its risks, benefits, and tradeoffs.
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    U.S. Abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty: Implications for Russian-Sino Relations
    Barrett, Leah Robinson (Virginia Tech, 2021-01-27)
    This thesis aims to address how the strategic partnership between Russia and China is affected by the absence of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, also known as the I.N.F. Treaty. Through historical evidence of the strategic partnership, along with various balancing theories, this thesis presents the argument that American abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty would result in strengthened relations between Russia and China if the United States deploys intermediate-range nuclear weapons to the Pacific. Without U.S. deployment, however, the Russian-Sino strategic partnership will likely remain undisturbed.
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    Unintended Survivability: Comparative Reactions to Israel's Nuclear Posture
    Ghannam, ElSayed Eid ElSayed (Virginia Tech, 2022-11-30)
    The overarching goal of this study is to conduct an investigation of regional perspectives on the impact of Israel's nuclear monopoly on nuclear decisions in the Middle East. This Dissertation addresses the question as to why regional actors have taken divergent nuclear paths relative to Israel's nuclear posture. The point of departure for this inquiry is whether the 'introduction' of Israel's nuclear weapons has ever played a pivotal role in the nuclear decisions and escalation dynamics in the Middle East. In so doing, this study addresses why Israel has maintained a nuclear monopoly in the Middle East. Within this context, the nuclear decisions are analyzed while employing three specific Independent Variables, namely: conventional balance; alliance reliance; and the perception of the utility of nuclear weapons. The analysis of the Egypt and Iran cases demonstrated layers of common and divergent responses, namely in relation to their perception of conventional, nonconventional, and nuclear deterrence. The dissertation addressed how both countries perceived and reacted to the underlying principles that underpinned Israel's nuclear posture. The main findings of this dissertation serve the logic of comparison between Egypt and Iran. These findings are addressed in terms of: a) the essence of reaction whether it applies to the nuclear posture or nuclear capabilities; b) the mere existence of a nuclear decision; c) the perception of the utility of nuclear weapons in terms of deterrence, compellence, and coercion; d) the difference between the official, semi-official and unofficial rhetoric; e) the significance of the legal reaction.
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    Varying Views of Democracy Among Iraqi Citizens, 2005-2018
    Zaarour, Khodr M. (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-17)
    After the destabilization of Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by U.S. forces, Iraq had the opportunity to emerge as a democratic nation. This study explores the emerging concepts of democracy in Iraq during the roughly 13-year period between 2005 and 2018 as the country moved from Authoritarian (Guardianship) and Thin (Successorship) views of democracy to a Deep (Western) liberal view. I trace the evolution of democracy in Iraq by probing the possible influences of religious, cultural, historical, external, socioeconomic, and physical factors influencing these concepts of democracy, analyzing the elections held during the period, and interviewing Iraqis in the United States. In a religiously conservative society such as Iraq, understanding the basics of Iraqis' religion helps scholars better understand how Iraqis define and view democracy. In examining the bases for varying views of democracy among Iraqis, religion as a collective framework generates meanings, attitudes, beliefs, values, and purposes to help make sense of Iraqi political experience and shapes individuals' beliefs, behaviors, and ethical structures. Additionally, income, education, personal experiences, and religious attachment also help to shape their definition of democracy. Using scholarship about the theories of democracy, this study constructed measures of different aspects of its meaning among Iraqi individuals and political parties. Then, using data collected from primary and secondary sources (including interviews, statements of the political philosophies of active political parties, statements of party leaders, and sources such as books, articles, media reports, public discourse, websites, and blogs), I examined several expectations about the extent of variation in and the nature of Iraqis' definitions of democracy. Each group evidently manipulated its definition of democracy to protect its interests at the expense of its rivals. Based on the evidence examined, five key themes emerged: restoration of full Iraqi administration of the country; schism in the Shi'a house between the two religious centers of Qum (Iran) and Najaf (Iraq); collapse of the ruling party; fluidity of political realignments; a rise of secularisms; and the emergence of a robust social movement supporting a Western liberal democratic system. Competition over shared social and ideological terrain often intensified political struggles, especially the fierce clash between and within the Shi'a and Sunni communities and Islamists and leftist forces. Although the intensity of conflicting definitions of democracy diminished over the two elections held in 2014 and 2018, a more universal definition is still sought. A clearer and more stable meaning remains elusive despite growing consensus on the term. In sum, this study is far from the last word on how Iraqis define democracy, as it continues to evolve in theory and practice.