The US has a long history of hacking other democracies

[Commentary] Why do democratic governments so often engage in violent covert actions? The United States is roiled by controversy over Russia’s broad covert operation to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 presidential election and Western democracy in general. But the US government has interfered in other democracies’ decisions with violent clandestine operations that go back generations. We examined unclassified Central Intelligence Agency documents and historical academic research on US interventions to identify 27 US clandestine operations carried out between 1949 and 2000. Most US “secret wars” were against other democratic states.

[Mariya Y. Omelicheva is associate professor in the department of political science at the University of Kansas. Christian Crandall is professor in the department of psychology at the University of Kansas.Ryan Beasley is senior lecturer in the school of international relations at St. Andrews University.]