Regime Change Hasn't Withstood the Test of Time

U.S. Regime Change, Covert Operations, and Political Interventions — Outcome Assessment Table

Country	Year(s)	Type of Action	Immediate Outcome	Long-Term Impact on International Affairs	U.S. Interests (Nation)	U.S. Interests (Region)	U.S. Interests (Global)
Hawaii	1893	Coup / annexation	Monarchy overthrown	U.S. territorial expansion	Beneficial	Neutral	Neutral
Cuba	1898–1902	Military intervention	Spanish rule removed	Revolutionary backlash (1959)	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Philippines	1899–1902	Military suppression	Republic crushed	Anti-imperial legacy	Neutral	Neutral	Adverse
Iran	1953	CIA/MI6 coup	Shah installed	1979 revolution; hostility	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Guatemala	1954	CIA coup	Árbenz removed	Civil war, migration	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Syria	1949	CIA-backed coup	Govt removed	Chronic instability	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Italy	1948	Election intervention	Communists defeated	NATO cohesion	Beneficial	Beneficial	Beneficial
Indonesia	1957–66	Covert support	Suharto installed	Authoritarian stability	Beneficial	Neutral	Neutral
Congo (DRC)	1960–65	Covert destabilization	Lumumba removed	State failure	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
South Vietnam	1963	Coup encouragement	Diem removed	War escalation	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Brazil	1964	Coup support	Military rule	Long dictatorship	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Dominican Rep.	1965	Military intervention	Reform blocked	Hemispheric resentment	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Chile	1970–73	Economic war + coup	Allende removed	Human-rights legacy	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Ghana	1966	Covert coup	Nkrumah removed	African instability	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Argentina	1976	Tacit coup support	Junta installed	Operation Condor	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Turkey	1980	Tacit coup support	Military takeover	Strategic but authoritarian ally	Beneficial	Neutral	Neutral
Bolivia	1971	CIA-backed coup	Banzer installed	Recurrent coups	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Uruguay	1973	Security-state support	Democracy suspended	Southern Cone repression	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Cambodia	1970	Coup support	Lon Nol installed	Khmer Rouge genocide	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Laos	1957–75	CIA proxy war	Temporary regime survival	Regional spillover	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Vietnam	1954–75	Full military intervention	Communist victory	U.S. strategic retrenchment	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Korea (South)	1945–53	Regime formation + war	Peninsula divided	Enduring alliance	Beneficial	Beneficial	Neutral
Afghanistan	1979–89	Proxy war	Soviet withdrawal	Militant globalization	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Nicaragua	1981–90	Contra proxy war	Sandinistas weakened	Iran-Contra legacy	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
El Salvador	1980s	Counterinsurgency support	Govt survives	Migration pressures	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Angola	1975–91	Proxy support	Prolonged war	Cold War entrenchment	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Mozambique	1970s–80s	Proxy conflict	Civil war	Regional instability	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Honduras	1980s	Proxy base state	Militarization	Institutional weakness	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Grenada	1983	Direct invasion	Govt removed	Intervention precedent	Beneficial	Neutral	Neutral
Panama	1989	Direct invasion	Noriega removed	Sovereignty disputes	Beneficial	Neutral	Neutral
Haiti	1991 / 2004	Coup tolerance / coercion	Aristide removed	Chronic instability	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Iraq	2003	Full invasion	Saddam removed	Regional destabilization	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Libya	2011	NATO/U.S. regime change	Gaddafi removed	State collapse	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Syria	2011–	Opposition support	Assad survives	Multi-power proxy war	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Venezuela	2002	Coup attempt (disputed)	Chávez returns	Hardened hostility	Adverse	Adverse	Adverse
Russia	1996	Election intervention	Yeltsin reelected	Long-term mistrust	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Ukraine	2004 / 2014	Political support	Govt realignment	NATO–Russia conflict	Neutral	Adverse	Adverse
Israel	2015	Political influence	Govt unchanged	Norm erosion	Neutral	Neutral	Adverse