The United States has remained a long-standing military and economic power throughout its more than 200-year history and has contributed its efforts to export democracy and help other nations abroad establish democratic governments after their own decentralized and destabilized forms of government have collapsed. After rendering these countries lawless in the midst of power vacuums, various third-party groups seek to fill these voids and create governments that will serve their interests and declare their authority in the nation. The Communist Party in Vietnam and the Nationalists, followed by the religious fundamentalists in Iraq, are but two examples of this historical cycle of government collapse and restructuring. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay During the ongoing Cold War, Vietnam had fallen into the hands of the Communist Party led by Ho Chi Minh and his followers, and the emergence of a new communist government would soon follow. To prevent another country from going “red,” the United States waged a proxy war, which meant that Vietnam was merely a battlefield for a larger, nonviolent conflict against the Soviet Union. JFK, and then Nixon, engaged the Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam, who were supported by China and the USSR, through the deployment of troops to support the Democratic Army of South Vietnam. After years of continuous casualties and unsuccessful stalemates, the United States quietly accepted defeat and withdrew from Vietnam. The United States assumed that its military and economic might would be useful in the dense, uncharted jungles of Vietnam, and its attempt to re-establish democratic authority in Vietnam would be worth the loss of life and humiliation at the hands of the Communists . However, their long shadow of influence was not enough to welcome Vietnam back into the fold of democracy and to make China and the Soviet Union take this loss into account. Although it was a hard-earned defeat, it did not deter the United States from pursuing its plans to spread democracy wherever and whenever it could. The US intervention in the Middle East was initially less covered by the media and other actors. the media and far fewer people were not as interested in the topic, as the clash between democracy and communism, as a headline, attracted more attention from American viewers. However, the United States played the role of observer, carefully observing whether Middle Eastern nations were trending more toward democracy or communism. Although communism has been virtually a failure in this area of ​​the world due to its atheistic background, with the exception of Afghanistan, most countries have not even embraced American democracy. Instead, religious fundamentalism has its roots in Islamic religious-political ideology such as Sharia law, or in the installation of religious leaders, such as Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, in seats of political power: “Two possibilities suggest themselves , those of religion and nationalism. The rise of religious fundamentalism in recent years within the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions has been widely noted" (Fukuyama). Please note: This is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get an essay personalized Nationalism has played an important role in world history and has been the cause of numerous wars to this day: “Two world wars.