Theory of the dominos
The theory of the dominos is a theory American Géopolitique of half of the XXe century according to which the ideological swing of a country in favor of the Communisme would be followed same change in the adjoining countries according to an effect Domino. This theory was called upon by various American administrations to justify their intervention in the world.
Theory of dominos has be formulated for first time April 7th 1954 by President Eisenhower - even if it does not employ the expression -, like physical metaphor to represent the propagation by “contagion” (biomedical metaphor) of the communist ideology. It is connected with the concept of “Co-evolution” in ecology where a change at an individual can promote and facilitate a change at another, according to Gregory Bateson.
The Cold war
The theory of the dominos was forged by the the United States within the framework of the Truman doctrine (in the direction of “principles of international policy”) of the Endiguement, during the Cold war. According to this theory, it was necessary to avoid the swing towards the Communisme of such or such country, because the adjoining countries would rock in their turn.
This theory justified the military intervention with the Vietnam (Guerre of Vietnam) to prevent a future communist domination of the South-East Asia. The doctrines interventionist of Truman can be put in contrast with the isolationist doctrines of James Monroe.
The partisans of the theory of the dominos show that the fear of the United States was actually carried out: after the fall of the south-vietnam, several adjoining countries underwent a communist revolution.
The adversaries of this theory indicate that Communism is not a monolithic block, that the various Communist regimes were in conflict between them. Thus a war opposed Vietnam and Kampuchea, then Vietnam and China. They also underline the motivation nationalist and not only communist of the protagonists and often qualify the theory of simple propaganda. According to these criticisms, the fall of the adjoining countries of Vietnam is explained by the instability caused by the war of Vietnam.
Comparison with the democratization of the Middle East wanted by the administration George Walker Bush
Few before the War in Iraq, the idea defended by the intellectuals néo-conservatives of a democratization of the the Middle East which would start with Iraq then would extend to all the area was compared by various media with a theory dominos. According to the néoconservateurs, the establishment of the Démocratie in a country will cause the same change in the adjoining countries, until the disappearance of the authoritarian regimes.