Covert Regime Change

America's Secret Cold War

Lindsey A. O'Rourke

Narrated by Gary Roelofs

Available from Audible

Book published by Cornell University Press

States seldom resort to war to overthrow their adversaries. They are more likely to attempt to covertly change the opposing regime, by assassinating a foreign leader, sponsoring a coup d’état, meddling in a democratic election, or secretly aiding foreign dissident groups.

In Covert Regime Change, Lindsey A. O’Rourke shows us how states really act when trying to overthrow another state. She argues that conventional focus on overt cases misses the basic causes of regime change. O’Rourke provides substantive evidence of types of security interests that drive states to intervene. Offensive operations aim to overthrow a current military rival or break up a rival alliance. Preventive operations seek to stop a state from taking certain actions, such as joining a rival alliance, that may make them a future security threat. Hegemonic operations try to maintain a hierarchical relationship between the intervening state and the target government. Despite the prevalence of covert attempts at regime change, most operations fail to remain covert and spark blowback in unanticipated ways.

Covert Regime Change assembles an original dataset of all American regime change operations during the Cold War. This fund of information shows the United States was ten times more likely to try covert rather than overt regime change during the Cold War. Her dataset allows O’Rourke to address three foundational questions: What motivates states to attempt foreign regime change? Why do states prefer to conduct these operations covertly rather than overtly? How successful are such missions in achieving their foreign policy goals?

Lindsey A. O'Rourke is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston College. Her research focuses on regime change, international security, and US foreign policy.

REVIEWS:

“The reality of covert operations that meddle with the domestic regimes of other states, as Lindsey O'Rourke documents, is that when the secret intervention fails it becomes public, leaving the unsuccessful intervener with egg on his face and blood on his hands. Every government library from the White House to the C.I.A. needs copies of this book on their shelves”

—Michael Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations, Founding Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, and author of Cult of the Irrelevant

“Fantastic.... A well-written, important work that should productively inform foreign-policy debates going forward, particularly in the post–Iraq, post–Libya world where we can see, fully on display, the destructive power of regime change gone wrong.... O'Rourke's book should be essential reading.”

—The National Interest

“Covert Regime Change is an important addition to the new literature on intelligence and international relations. Lindsey O’Rourke convincingly shows that covert action has been a regular feature of American statecraft for decades, and that the United States chooses regime change not for idealistic reasons but out of ruthless pragmatism.”

—Joshua Rovner, Professor in the School of International Service, American University, and author of Fixing the Facts

“Covert action to change foreign governments is exceptionally controversial, hard to research, and usually explored only by journalists. All who read this book will be impressed with the depth, detail, and clarity of Lindsey O’Rourke’s analysis. No other academic study of the question tops this one.”

—Richard Betts, Columbia University

“This is a book for scholars and policy makers; the footnotes are copious and extensive. However, given the long commitment to covert activity, the admonitions about such action undoubtedly will fall on deaf ears.”

—CHOICE

“Covert Regime Change is a valuable book that sheds light on an important issue.”

—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

“The reality of covert operations that meddle with the domestic regimes of other states, as Lindsey O'Rourke documents, is that when the secret intervention fails it becomes public, leaving the unsuccessful intervener with egg on his face and blood on his hands. Every government library from the White House to the C.I.A. needs copies of this book on their shelves.”

—Michael Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations, Founding Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, and author of Cult of the Irrelevant

“Fantastic.... A well-written, important work that should productively inform foreign-policy debates going forward, particularly in the post–Iraq, post–Libya world where we can see, fully on display, the destructive power of regime change gone wrong.... O'Rourke's book should be essential reading.”

—The National Interest

“Covert Regime Change is an important addition to the new literature on intelligence and international relations. Lindsey O’Rourke convincingly shows that covert action has been a regular feature of American statecraft for decades, and that the United States chooses regime change not for idealistic reasons but out of ruthless pragmatism.”

—Joshua Rovner, Professor in the School of International Service, American University, and author of Fixing the Facts

“Covert action to change foreign governments is exceptionally controversial, hard to research, and usually explored only by journalists. All who read this book will be impressed with the depth, detail, and clarity of Lindsey O’Rourke’s analysis. No other academic study of the question tops this one.”

—Richard Betts, Columbia University

“This is a book for scholars and policy makers; the footnotes are copious and extensive. However, given the long commitment to covert activity, the admonitions about such action undoubtedly will fall on deaf ears.”

—CHOICE

“Covert Regime Change is a valuable book that sheds light on an important issue.”

—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy