US Aims to 'Shape Outcome of Future Elections' in Liberia With New Sanctions, Expert Says
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On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the introduction of visa restrictions by the United States for persons he believes are "undermining democracy" in Liberia ahead of elections due to be held in that country in October.
The purpose of the United States' sanctions against Liberia is to "shape the outcome" of the October elections in the country, head of Political Studies Department and Associate Professor of Political Science at the South African Cape Town University, Zwelethu Jolobe told Sputnik Africa.
"The aim here is to try and shape the outcome of that election and obviously with that, to try and shape the behavior of who will win that election. And so I feel that this has got less to do with visas and more to do with creating a coercive environment in which they can shape the outcome of that election," Jolobe said.
The expert added that such actions are typical for the Western countries, which have been trying to interfere in the internal affairs of other states for "over a decade or two" by "imposing some kind of restrictions" and "sanctions."
"This attempt to do this is part of a broader pattern that we've seen over the last maybe decade or two, especially in regard to the US, the European Union, in which there is a concerted attempt to change the behavior of how people, be it actors, be it people who want to run for office, to change the behavior of the domestic politics of countries," the professor stressed.
Elaborating on the measures that the Western states use to carry out their general and foreign policies, the researcher noted that it is "symptomatic" of them to resort to the "carrots and sticks" method.
"Carrots if you behave in ways that conform to the way that they want you to, which also involves if the elections produce the kind of regimes that are consistent with the interests, then you get carrots. But if they do not produce those kinds of regimes or if you do not have the kind of policies or processes that are consistent with that, then it becomes a case of sticks," he explained.
In addition, Jolobe emphasized the negative impact of the West's punitive measures on the African continent and its population.
"Whenever the US or the EU coughs or gently sneezes, Africa catches a flu. And those are just normal times. When you have economic sanctions now or when you have the kind of coercive conditions, it has a serious negative effect, not only on the way that those countries are able to do business and all these things, but most importantly on the ordinary lives of the people that reside within those countries," the expert noted.
Moreover, the professor highlighted the West has always supported its actions with the statement that "the more democracies you have in the world that are compatible with an American form of democracy, then the more secure [is] a unipolar world."
Furthermore, he named various instruments that the Western countries turn to in order to protect "a unipolar world," including multiple international institutions and financial dominance.
"It's done by using the military on one hand, it's done by using various international nongovernmental organizations, it's done through using financial power. And I think we must also remember that it is no accident that for so many years the dollar has been the primary international currency," Jolobe revealed.
On September 28, Blinken unveiled visa restrictions by the State Department for people he believes are "manipulating or rigging the electoral process" in Liberia ahead of the elections, which the country will hold on October 10.
This is not the first case of the US putting pressure on an African nation with such measures.
In early September, following the June 2023 general elections in Sierra Leone, Washington announced visa restrictions against the country's officials, who allegedly "undermined democracy" in the West African nation.
In addition, in June, Uganda has also been the subject of the US visa restrictions due to the enactment of an anti-LGBT law.
