The United States should make democracy consolidation a principal strategic objective in order to prevent a “reverse wave” of state implosions, a new report suggests. The Obama administration should ditch the “toxic” concept of democracy promotion with its implication of coercive democratization and instead create greater incentives for democratic reform, according to an analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
The new administration has an opportunity to clarify what it means by democracy and can today better convey patience, humility, cooperation, and pragmatism through a “democracy support” strategy to foster democracy and U.S. strategic interests.
Democracy has always been an animating idea of US foreign policy, enjoying bipartisan support, the report notes, citing Raymond Aron ’s observation that “the strength of a great power is diminished if it ceases to serve an idea”. But democracy promotion has been tarnished by its mistaken association with the Iraq war and, more importantly, by a failure to apply it consistently where it apparently conflicts with strategic priorities in places like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Yet the CSIS analysis, based on extensive interviews with foreign policy strategists and democracy advocates, notes that democracy remains an integral feature of U.S. security strategy for three main reasons: the “democratic peace” theory that mature democracies do not go to war with each other (one analyst claimed to be a fully-paid up member of the Kantian club); democracies are more reliable allies and rule-abiding partners; and consistent support for democracy will help restore America’s image as a benevolent power.
Decades of support for democracy assistance suggest that certain key principles should underpin a new strategy of democracy support: democracy is a complex and indigenous process, not an event or end state; the United States should be modest about the limits of its power generally and humble about the complexity of democratic transition; consequently, the U.S. should cooperate with nongovernmental organizations and other governments (particularly European), as well as regional and other multilateral organizations; the U.S. should also acknowledge that “charges of hypocrisy are inevitable” since the U.S., like any other state, has other conflicting interests and varying degrees of leverage.
A new approach to democracy support should be based on five pillars: restoring U.S. respect and reputation as a model democracy; rebuilding credibility by acknowledging that strategies and interests will vary and inevitably produce inconsistencies; autocratic regimes – and their societies, including democratic actors – should be engaged to facilitate transitions; economic assistance should be used to secure freedom from want, consolidate emerging democratic movements, decrease poverty, and reduce corruption; and enhanced political assistance would strengthen democracy and good governance abroad:
Existing U.S. democracy and governance programs to develop the myriad institutions of democracy in the state, party, and electoral politics and civil society-particularly independent media-should be improved. U.S. programs should be adapted to different actors within diverse countries, sustainably scaled up in larger countries like Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan for the long term, and should operationally shift from determining what indigenous actors need to responding to their initiatives and priorities.
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