Rollback

Inpolitical science,rollbackis the strategy of forcing a change in the major policies of a state, usually byreplacing its ruling regime.It contrasts withcontainment,which means preventing the expansion of that state; and withdétente,which means developing a working relationship with that state. Most of the discussions of rollback in the scholarly literature deal withUnited States foreign policytowardcommunist countriesduring theCold War.The rollback strategy was tried and was not successful inKorea in 1950and inCuba in 1961,but it was successful inGrenada in 1983.TheUnited Statesdiscussed the use of rollback during theEast German uprising of 1953and theHungarian Revolution of 1956,which were ultimately crushed by theSoviet Army,but decided against it to avoid the risk of a major war.^[1]

Rollback of governments hostile to the U.S. took place duringWorld War II(against Fascist Italy in 1943, Nazi Germany in 1945, and Imperial Japan in 1945),Afghanistan(against theTalibanin 2001, though this would fail in the long term with theTaliban returning to power in 2021), andIraq(againstSaddam Husseinin 2003). When directed against an established government, rollback is sometimes called "regime change".^[2]

Terminology

The termrollbackwas popularized in the 1940s and the 1950s, but the term is much older. Some Britons, opposed to Russian oppression againstPoland,proposed in 1835 a coalition that would be "united to roll back into its congenial steppes and deserts the tide of Russian barbarism."^[3]Scottish novelist and military historianJohn Buchanin 1915 wrote of theAmerican Indian Wars,"I cast back to my memory of the tales of Indian war, and could not believe but that the white man, if warned and armed, would rollback [sic] theCherokees."^[4]More recently,John Mearsheimerwas significant in popularizing the term.^[5]

World War II

Rollback includes military operations designed to destroy an enemy's armed forces and occupy its country, as was done inWorld War IIto Italy, Germany, and Japan.^[6]^[7]

Cold War

The notion of military rollback against the Soviet Union was proposed by strategistJames Burnham^[8]and other strategists in the late 1940s, and by the Truman Administration against North Korea in theKorean War.Much debated was the question whether the U.S. should pursue a rollback strategy against Soviet-occupiersatellite statesin Eastern Europe in 1953–1956, which the United States ultimately decided against.^[9]

Instead of overt military rollback, the United States focused primarily on long-termpsychological warfareand military or clandestine assistance to delegitimize Soviet-dominated communist regimes and helpinsurgents.These attempts began as early as 1945 in theSoviet Bloc,including efforts to provide weapons to independence fighters in theBaltic statesandUkraine.Another early effort was againstAlbaniain 1949, following the defeat of communist forces in theGreek Civil Warthat year. The operation had already been betrayed to the Soviets by the British double agentKim Philby,and led to the immediate capture or killing of the agents.^[10]

Harry Truman

In theKorean War,the United States and theUnited Nationsofficially endorsed a policy of rollback—the protection of South Korea against an invading army of the communist North Korean government—and sent UN forces across the38th parallel.^[11]^[12]^[13]

Dwight Eisenhower

After the1952 presidential election,Republican spokesmanJohn Foster Dullestook the lead in promoting a rollback policy.^[14]The 1952Republican Party's national platform reaffirmed this position, andDwight D. Eisenhowerappointed Dulles asSecretary of State.However, Eisenhower ultimately adopted containment instead of rollback in October 1953 through National Security Council documentNSC 162/2,effectively abandoning rollback efforts in Europe.^[15]

Eisenhower instead relied on clandestineCIAactions to undermine hostile small governments and used economic and military foreign aid to strengthen governments supporting the American position in the Cold War. In August 1953, the United States, in collaboration with the BritishSIS,conductedOperation Ajaxto assist the Iranian military in therestoration of the Shah.^[16]Eisenhower adviserCharles Douglas Jacksonalso coordinated psychological warfare against the Soviet Bloc and the USSR itself.Radio Free Europe,a private agency funded by Congress, broadcast criticisms of communist regimes directed at Sovietsatellite statesin theEastern Bloc.^[17]

In 1956, Eisenhower decided not to intervene during theHungarian Revolution of 1956,which was subsequently brutally put down by theSoviet Army.TheSuez Crisis,which unfolded simultaneously, played an important role in hampering the U.S. response to the crisis in Hungary. The Suez Crisis made the condemnation of Soviet actions difficult. As Vice PresidentRichard Nixonlater explained: "We couldn't, on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene againstGamal Abdel Nasser."^[9]

Ronald Reagan

The "rollback" movement gained significant ground in the United States in the 1980s. TheReagan administration,urged on byThe Heritage Foundationand other influential conservatives, began to channel weapons to movements such as theMujahideeninAfghanistan,UNITAinAngola,and theContrasinNicaragua.The United States launched thesuccessful invasion of Grenada in 1983to protect American residents and reinstate constitutional government following a coup by what Reagan called "a brutal gang of leftist thugs."^[18]^[19]Reagan's interventions came to be known as theReagan Doctrine.^[20]

Critics^[who?]argued that the Reagan Doctrine led to so-calledblowbackand an unnecessary intensification ofThird Worldconflict. On the other hand, the Soviet Union eventually had to abandonits invasion of Afghanistan.Jessica Martin writes, "Insofar as rollback is concerned, American support for rebels, especially in Afghanistan, at the time helped to drain Soviet coffers and tax its human resources, contributing to that nation's overall crisis and eventualdisintegration."^[21]^[22]

George H. W. Bush

After theIraqi invasion of Kuwaiton 2 August 1990, a coalition of Western militaries deployed to protectKuwaitandSaudi ArabiafromBa'athist Iraq.While thePersian Gulf Warsuccessfully freed Kuwait, many military leaders and American politicians called for a full invasion of Iraq to replace Iraqi dictatorSaddam Husseinand effectively roll back his regime. However, President Bush ultimately decided against a full invasion of Iraq.

Between 1988 and 1991, the fifteenSoviet republicsgradually declared their laws superior to those of the Soviet Union, and the USSR ceased to exist on December 26, 1991.^[23]

War on Terror

George W. Bush

Following theSeptember 11 attacks,his administration, along with a NATO coalition, undertook awar in Afghanistanto remove theTalibangovernment, which it believe had harboredal-Qaeda,the group responsible for the attacks. Bush told Congress:

The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.^[24]

While the initial invasion succeeded in removing the Taliban from state power, after twenty years of a US military presence which was extremely unpopular both in Afghanistan and the US and was met with a Taliban insurgency, theDonald Trumpand laterJoe Bidenadministrations withdrew all US troops from Afghanistan, and in 2021the Taliban returned to power.

Similarly, Bush opposed the regime ofSaddam Husseinin Iraq, labeling the regime as part of an "axis of evil",which also included Iran and North Korea.^[25]Additionally, the administration claimed to believe Hussein possessedweapons of mass destruction.^[26]As a result, in March 2003, the U.S. military invaded Iraq and overthrew Hussein's regime.

References

^Stöver 2004,pp. 97–102.
^Litwak, Robert (2007).Regime Change: U.S. Strategy Through the Prism of 9/11.Johns Hopkins U.P. p.109.ISBN 9780801886423.
^The British and Foreign Review Or European Quarterly Journal.1835. pp. 52–53.
^John Buchan (25 January 2011).Salute to Adventurers.House of Stratus. p. 166.ISBN 9780755117154.
^Wang, Frances Yaping (2024).The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes.Oxford University Press.p. 24.ISBN 9780197757512.
^Weigley, Russell F (1977),The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy,pp. 145, 239, 325, 382, 391.
^Pash, Sidney (2010), "Containment, Rollback and the Onset of the Pacific War, 1933–1941", in Piehler, G Kurt; Pash, Sidney (eds.),The United States and the Second World War: New Perspectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front,pp. 38–67.
^Kelly, Daniel (2002),James Burnham and the struggle for the world: a life,p. 155.
^^a ^bBorhi, László (1999),"Rollback, Liberation, Containment, or Inaction? U.S. Policy and Eastern Europe in the 1950s",Journal of Cold War Studies,1(3): 67–110,doi:10.1162/152039799316976814,S2CID 57560214
^Weiner, Tim (2007),Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA,New York: Doubleday, pp. 45–46.
^Matray, James I (Sep 1979), "Truman's Plan for Victory: National Self-Determination and the Thirty-Eighth Parallel Decision in Korea",Journal of American History,66(2), JStor: 314–33,doi:10.2307/1900879,JSTOR 1900879.
^Cumings, Bruce (2010),The Korean War: A History,pp. 25, 210.
^James L. Roark; et al. (2011).Understanding the American Promise, Volume 2: From 1865: A Brief History of the United States.Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 740.ISBN 9781457608483.
^Stöver 2004,p. 98.
^Robert R. Bowie; Richard H. Immerman (2000).Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy.Oxford UP. p. 171.ISBN 9780195140484.
^Prados, John (2009), "6",Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA.
^Puddington, Arch (2003),Broadcasting Freedom: The Cold War Triumph of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.
^Thomas Carothers (1993).In the Name of Democracy: U.S. Policy Toward Latin America in the Reagan Years.U. of California Press. pp. 113–15.ISBN 9780520082601.
^H. W. Brands, Jr., "Decisions on American Armed Intervention: Lebanon, Dominican Republic, and Grenada,"Political Science Quarterly(1987) 102#4 pp. 607-624 quote at p 616in JSTOR
^DeConde, Alexander, ed. (2002).Encyclopedia of American foreign policy.Scribner. p.273.ISBN 9780684806594.
^Van Dijk, Ruud, ed. (2008).Encyclopedia of the Cold War.US: Taylor & Francis. p. 751.ISBN 9780203880210.
^Mann, James (2009),The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War.
^Rosenberg, Victor (2005).Soviet-American Relations, 1953–1960: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange During the Eisenhower Presidency.McFarland & Co. p. 260.ISBN 9780786419340.
^Bush, George W. (20 September 2001)."Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the United States Response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11".The American Presidency Project.Retrieved2017-12-21.
^Bush, George W. (29 January 2002)."Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union".The American Presidency Project.Retrieved2017-12-21.
^Bush, George W. (January 28, 2003)."Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union".American Presidency Project.Retrieved2017-12-21.