Thomas Carothers takes stock of Obama’s democracy policy, finding valuable revitalization with continued troubling shortcomings.
A stark division underlies U.S. policy in the Middle East, where serious efforts to bolster democratic transitions in parts of the region are carried out alongside firm support for most of the remaining non-democratic governments.
Major development agencies are increasingly attempting to integrate governance perspectives throughout their programs, but they face major unresolved questions in moving this effort forward.
Thomas Carothers and Diane de Gramont explain that donors have learned important lessons about providing effective governance assistance to developing countries, but turning these insights into practice remains a challenge.
Thomas Carothers argues that policy makers and aid providers looking to support the wave of political change in the Arab world should be careful about drawing lessons from post-1989 Central and Eastern Europe and other historical analogies.
Tsveta Petrova writes that democratic actors in Central and Eastern Europe bring unique experiences and legitimacy to international democracy support. Their efforts have the potential to make a significant contribution.
Thomas Carothers and FRIDE's Richard Youngs explore the role of rising democracies from the developing world in assisting and revitalizing international democracy support. Encouraging these countries to do more to support democracy abroad should be a priority, but it will not be easy.
As the United States seeks to respond to the democratic challenges of the Arab Spring, Thomas Carothers explains how it can be helpful to consider what has been learned since the early democracy promotion experiences of 1989.
As Peruvians headed to the polls on June 5, their democracy faced a major test. Both presidential candidates had weak democratic credentials and reflect the continued shortcomings of Peru's widely lauded political and economic model, writes Diane de Gramont.
Thomas Carothers examines the extent to which historical analogies to past political upheaval around the world can help policy makers understand the wave of political change sweeping through Arab nations.
Bolivia has embarked on a democratic experiment which differs in significant ways from Western liberal models, writes Dr. Jonas Wolff. While this poses a challenge to traditional democracy promotion efforts, external actors still have the potential to play a constructive role in the country.
Thomas Carothers urges that U.S. assistance to Egypt for the development of political parties should not favor secular parties at the expense of those like the Muslim Brotherhood. Choosing favorites would risk undermining U.S. credibility as a force for democracy promotion and could actually hurt the very parties Washington seeks to help.
Thomas Carothers writes that Congressional Republicans should follow the example of British conservatives, who have taken the extraordinary step of exempting foreign aid from their far-reaching budget cuts because they recognize its strategic and moral importance.
Mass demonstrations have swept through Egypt, calling for governmental reform and an end to the thirty year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Thomas Carothers outlines parallels between the current situation in Egypt and Indonesia’s democratic transition following the fall of the country’s dictator in the late 1990s.
More on Unrest in the Arab World:
The “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia: Not Just Another Color
Tunisia: Lessons of Authoritarian Collapse
Over the past twenty years, democracy promoters and development practioners have become increasingly interconnected and the distinctions between the two communities have become blurred, explain Thomas Carothers.
Democracy is largely stagnant in the world and a growing number of governments exhibit hostility toward international democracy aid. Thomas Carothers explains that tackling longstanding problems with the basic structures of U.S. democracy aid would boost President Obama’s effort to formulate an approach to democracy promotion. As the largest source of such assistance, USAID is an obvious starting point for deep-reaching reforms.
Thomas Carothers discusses the linkages between development and democracy, the appropriate place for external democracy promotion, the future of the European Union, the value of democracy indices, and possible implications for Eastern Europe and Russia of the Obama administration.
Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental
As international democracy assistance matures it is undergoing a process of strategic differentiation into two distinct approaches: a political approach and a developmental approach. Thomas Carothers diagnoses the key characteristics of these differing approaches and their implications for European and U.S. democracy assistance.
Despite sweeping rhetoric about the global spread of democracy, the Bush Administration has significantly damaged U.S. democracy promotion efforts and increased the number of close ties with “friendly tyrants,” concludes Carnegie Vice President for Studies Thomas Carothers. Carothers analyzes the Bush Administration’s record on democracy promotion, its effect on democracy worldwide, and presents fresh ideas about the role democracy promotion can and should play in future U.S. policies.
Event: In a Carnegie seminar, Francis Fukuyama, Vin Weber, Jennifer Windsor, and Carothers discussed the present and future of democracy promotion.
Click here for video, audio, and transcript.
Related: Repairing Democracy Promotion, Carothers, Washingtonpost.com, September 14, 2007
Despite their initial inclination to lower the profile of U.S. democracy promotion, President Obama has had to confront a series of urgent, visible democracy issues, from political upheaval in multiple Arab countries and unexpected events in Russia to thwarted elections in Côte d’Ivoire and beyond.
By Thomas Carothers
Edited by Thomas Carothers
Edited by Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway
By Thomas Carothers
By Marina Ottaway
Edited by Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway
By Thomas Carothers
Absent a good education environment, there is little room for the Arab world’s youth to turn into responsible citizens who can consolidate and stimulate social transformation to bring about more prosperous and free societies.
China’s traditional diplomacy is at a crossroads as it adjusts to the new global order. The financial crises, climate change, and regional instability have propelled China into a new global role and in turn, a new era of diplomacy.
The obvious and often painful mismatch between aspiration and reality in European foreign policy has plagued discourse on European integration during the last decade.
Recent protests have undermined the legitimacy of Russian authorities and significantly weakened Putin's hold on power. Even if the protests were to unexpectedly stop, the process of chipping away at Putin's regime has been set in motion.
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