The need to “reassert our faith in the advance of democracy as the most effective weapon in our arsenal against terrorism and tyranny” is one of the five great global challenges facing the world, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today. He called for a “progressive multilateralism” to strengthen the global economy; tackle climate change; resolve conflict and meet the Millenium Development Goals.
Specifically, the British premier also called for a new stabilization and reconstruction agency “ready, through civilian as well as military assistance, to rebuild conflict-ridden and fragile states.”
With global authoritarianism on the rise and the Chinese model of authoritarian capitalism apparently offering developing states an alternative route to material prosperity, Brown insisted that “open, plural, diverse societies are those most likely to stay rich, strong and free.”
Unlike his predecessor Tony Blair, Brown has appeared reluctant to address the conflict with radical Islamist ideology. But today’s speech stressed the need to “step up and win the battle of ideas against terrorism and extremism not by sacrificing the liberties that they scorn but by securing new international means of achieving stability, reconstruction and democracy in failed and fragile states.”
[...] Allen at Democracy Digest has some comments regarding UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s annual foreign policy speech to the Lord [...]