Bush "Realists" Say Goodbye to Democracy Promotion
Cohn, Elizabeth
Since President Ronald Reagan announced his commitment to the promotion of democracy in a speech to the British Parliament in 1982, there has been a bipartisan consensus in Washington that the...
...Indeed, since Woodrow Wilson, U.S...
...The Bush administration's focus on responding to the September 11 attacks will likely further minimize the importance of democracy promotion in U.S...
...Clinton often spoke in lofty terms about the promotion of electoral regimes as a way to advance U.S...
...This difference reflects a deeper and more as president of the International Republican Institute (IRI) to accept the position in the administration...
...Democracy and human rights should be integrated as core values of U.S...
...In Craner...
...The idea is that democracy programs cannot succeed without addressing conflict prevention...
...foreign policy was based on military security, not broadly defined values like "freedom" and "democracy...
...Clinton's rhetorical commitment was often undercut by competing security and economic interests, but his administration provided leadership in Washington and abroad for building a consensus for democracy promotion...
...Abrams served in several positions Africa, and new approach to deterrence would be this in the Reagan administration, including Assistant Sec- Administration's foreign policy priorities, but with the retary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian exceptions of Mexico, Colombia and Cuba, the adminAffairs (the same position held by Koh and now by istration has so far virtually ignored Latin America...
...foreign policy should "seek to cy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance...
...Now, of ut democracy course, it is the "war against ter- ror...
...Koh, assessing his two years in the Clinton administration, called for a foreign policy that is neither Realist or Idealist, but "practically Idealist...
...Idealpolitik views national security and U.S...
...However, we will continue to have serious concerns about the Sandinistas, absent clear commitments from candidate Ortega that he is now prepared to embrace democratic policies...
...He said he wanted to keep moralism out of foreign policy calculations...
...When security or economic interests dominated, however, the democracy agenda was compromised for these other foreign policy goals...
...Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 Elizabeth Cohn is assistant professor of political science at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland...
...government funding, but they have different track records in the field...
...Values are a part of our interests," he explained, and promoting democracy is both a means and an end...
...While conflict prevention programs could be positive, it is too early to tell how these would be President Bush meets with National Security Advisor Rice in the Oval Office, April 2001...
...Reagan used the concept to wage a war of ideas, as part of his crusade for freedom for the nistration will United States and the whole world-his effort to fight "the Sixth the past evil empire" of Communism, and offer an alternative sys- democracy tem...
...After the end of the )licy goal...
...POLICY advance U.S...
...The consensus supporting democracy promotion also emerged with little critical examination of the objectives, methods and the impact of democratization programs...
...Craner brings a targeted, strategic approach to his work, seeking to work in countries where the United States can have a large impact, rather than trying to promote free elections everywhere as was done during the Clinton Administration...
...global leadership...
...Although Abrams alone would take three years-which would have the and Dobriansky are more ideologically driven than effect of destroying the institution...
...And in 1994 Clinton delinked human rights from y funding trade in granting China most reign policy favored nation status...
...A Realist, in international relations theory, is a policymaker who defines national interests narrowly as state interests, relies primarily on military strength rather than ideology or economic power, seeks to limit foreign entanglements, considers conflict natural and The Bush admii likely break v and jettison promotion--versions of foreign pc functional, and keeps moral calculations out of foreign policy decision making...
...Abrams is very interested in political changes the first eight months in office only two senior officials in Nicaragua, particularly since Sandinista candidate visited Latin America outside of Mexico: Secretary of Daniel Ortega has a serious shot at taking the reins of State Colin Powell briefly appeared at regional conferpower in Nicaragua again...
...As a candidate, Bush campaigned for limited U.S...
...What became known in bureaucratic parlance as "democracy promotion" should therefore not be confused with the promotion of democracy in a broader sense...
...Clinton had eight years to build up the bureaucracy established by Reagan, and continued by Bush I, and a bureaucracy cannot be steered in a radical new direction overnight, especially when, as is the case with democracy promotion, several agencies and departments are involved...
...democracy promotion...
...Abrams is joined in the ences in Costa Rica and Peru, and U.S...
...and more abo Bush supported two bills in Congress that would give the power official Cuban opposition $100 mil- U.S...
...a "distinctly American internationalism," meaning that Washington would act only when its vital interests were at stake, and would stand tough against dictators, Communism and terrorists...
...POLICY A rally for Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) candidate Daniel Ortega, October 2, 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua...
...By creating a world of even limited democracies, the world would be more peaceful, he said in it- as a 1985...
...Similarly, until the terrorist attacks, the current administration had withdrawn the United States from the special role it had played in the Middle East since Jimmy Carter, and from recent attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland...
...There is a third position, which I call Idealpolitik, which more accurately characterizes the foreign policies of all U.S...
...Both organizations are almost entirely reliant on U.S...
...The Bush administration also reversed U.S...
...The topics Bush officials spoke on under the heading of democracy and human rights were religious persecution, torture, and trafficking in humans...
...39REPORT ON U.S...
...Presidents Reagan, George Bush I, and Bill Clinton highlighted democracy promotion as a cornerstone of foreign policy in each of their administrations...
...foreign aid budget, it was significant as a framework for the Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton administrations as a way to have an activist foreign policy that combined missionary idealism and the advancement of U.S...
...general split within the administration, with Powell generally taking the most Idealpolitikist positions and Rice aligned with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Richard Cheney at the Realist end of the political spectrum...
...t bringing to While the foreign policy framework of this administration who support will not be the promotion of n policy, democracy, at this point democracy promotion is common currency within the U.S...
...The administrations of Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton could be characterized as Idealpolitik, but the administration of George W. Bush appears likely to part company with them and adopt a posture of Realism...
...In the wake of September 11, the administration has been taking pains to win allies for its "war on terrorism," and it now seems willing to play a more active role in mediating the IsraeliPalestinian conflict...
...After coming to office, the Bush administration set limits on U.S...
...How does the current Bush administration compare...
...Stable democracies not only further the cause of peace, but also enhance American opportunities for business investment and trade...
...POLICY to foreign economies...
...Until September 11, the Bush administran predict that tion had demonstrated the tendency to place economic :a, programs interests above all...
...Notably missing were speeches on rule of law, elections and political processes, civil society, and governance-the topic headings for the Agency for International Development's (AID) Center for Democracy and Governance...
...implemented...
...This kind of thinking and language differs greatly from that of the Bush administration so far, which avoids the language of universalism and idealism, as well as a commitment to international fora such as the United Nations...
...The IRI, like the National Democratic Institute (NDI), is part of the National Endowment for Democracy...
...administrations since the end of the Cold War-until the current administration...
...foreign policy during the Bush administration...
...POLICY tional development assistance to a long-term strategy of resolving and avoiding conflict...
...Though officially a nongovernmental organization (NGO), IRI acknowledges that programmatic decisions are based on "current and historical Clinton made democracy promotion an organizing principle of his foreign policy and was the first to speak of "market democracies...
...While NDI supports foreign NGOs or other institutions on various points of the political spectrum, IRI supports like-minded, that is, conservative, political groups...
...By targeting the transformation of political systems of other countries, rather than focusing on the rights of individuals, Idealpolitikists believe that cooperation can be achieved...
...Perhaps Secretary Powell will continue in Idealpolitik fashion to speak of promoting democratic values for national security purposes, but it is unclear whether Powell will outmaneuver the Realists Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney...
...He claimed that we now have three universal languages-"the languages of money, the Internet, and democracy and human rights...
...For example, the Clinton administration overlooked the anti-democratic policies of President Fujimori in Peru because of his support for drug interdiction efforts in the region...
...and Jimmy Carter most closely approximates the Idealist...
...Foreign Policy: the Reagan Administration and the U.S...
...For example, it initially backed off from the Clinton administration's spirited attempt to make peace between the two Koreas but Bush senior cajoled his son's administration back into the talks...
...In Realist fashion, the Administration did not consider Argentina's economic difficulties a problem for the U.S...
...according to this worldview, the United States can increase its own security by promoting its values and ideals, such as market democracy...
...democracy promotion and human rights programs to ensure that they Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 41 0 Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 41REPORT ON U.S...
...There were no attempts at moral suasion...
...That consensus, he said, was embodied in various UN covenants and resolutions, which were important for the United States to support...
...promotion of democracy as a foreign policy goal, or to Latin America as a region of particular focus...
...policymakers decide that Nicaragua needed significant electoral assistance...
...policy must go beyond isolating Castro internationally in Latin Amer and also "actively support will be less abe those working to bring about democratic change in Cuba...
...foreign policy bureaus: The Bureau for Global Programs, which be both idealistic and pragmatic in protecting national housed the Center for Democracy and Governance, interests...
...Under Clinton she was on the Advisory Corn- lapse, as Clinton did for Mexico...
...The Bush Administration committed $5.6 million for Nicaragua's November elections, about half of what the Bush I Administration spent to help oust the Sandinistas from office in 1990...
...Serving to increase skepticism of U.S...
...To promote the development of democratic practices worldwide, I reaffirm America's support for freedom, justice, and pluralism...
...However, if the National Security Council, headed by Condoleezza Rice, plays its traditional role of coordinating the interagency process, the Realist tradition will remain strong and democracy promotion will have a limited place in U.S...
...A review of U.S...
...It was Ronald Reagan who first used democracy promotion as a policy framework as the Cold War was drawing to a close...
...The state is the primary actor in international affairs, but institutions, both domestic and international, play important roles on behalf of the state...
...This sounds like a return to Cold War Realist ideology, and in his first six months in office Bush has tried to live up to his campaign promises...
...policy, but no statement of democracy promotion as an administration foreign policy priority or call for additional programming...
...Powell has spoken in Clintonesque terms of promoting the values of democracy as a way of preserving U.S...
...In contemporary international relations, Richard Nixon represents the archetypal Realist...
...Speaking last May at the College of William will be reconstituted into the new Bureau of Democra- and Mary she said U.S...
...In the first six months of the Bush administration, Powell was in the minority in downplaying the importance of missile defense and he lost internal policy battles on Korea and Iraq...
...She details the concept of Idealpolitik in her dissertation, Idealpolitik in U.S...
...foreign policy bureaucracy and it cannot be eliminated quickly or easily...
...A look at early administration statements and personnel appointed to positions related to democracy promotion indicates a shift to what some political scientists would refer to as a Realist position, similar to Bush's stance on more prominent foreign policy issues...
...Realism is resurgent...
...limited strategic interests and not grand overarching values like enlarging the community of democracies A at does the new Realist worldview mean for la Clinton and Reagan...
...interests...
...forei lion over the next four years, a substantial increase from the $3 million currently going to the Cuban opposition under the Helms-Burton Act...
...thus, a war can be waged in terms of a battle of ideas...
...At the AID, the new Administrator, Andrew Natsios, wants to shift AID's programs away from tradi42NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 42REPORT ON U.S...
...foreign policy...
...it never encompassed notions of economic or social democracy...
...Craner's predecessor, Harold Koh, talked glowingly of the "globalization of democracy and human rights," extolling the "international consensus [that] now exists regarding the laws, institutions, and practices that are essential to an effective, functioning democracy...
...In reference to Cuba, President Bush's comments have been limited to using democracy promotion as a code word for isolating Cuba from its Latin American allies...
...Both Craner and most of their colleagues-more Idealpolitik-their Natsios are traditional conservatives, sharing a Realist appointments may be more an effort to appease the logic of providing humanitarian assistance for coun- religious conservative and missionary wings of the tries that are in the most dire need of help, but other- Republican party, and less a reflection of the adminiswise favoring U.S...
...National Security Advithe shift toward a focus on religious persecution and sor Rice said in June that the Western Hemisphere, pressure on Cuba...
...policy in Latin America...
...Trade Repreadministration by his prot6g6 Paula Dobriansky, who, sentative Robert Zoellick attended the inauguration of as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, is President Alejandro Toledo in Peru...
...Yet the George W. Bush administration appears likely to break with this past and jettison altogether the promotion of democracy--even limited versions of it-as a foreign policy goal...
...n examination of Bush's appointments to date of officials who head agencies which have historically played a role in democracy promotion also gives some indication of the administration's Realist inclinations...
...Conflict is contextual and can be avoided by structural changes to the international system, such as creating a world of democracies...
...Telling evidence are the nominations for the positions of Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the head of the Agency for International Development (AID Administrator), Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, and NSC Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations...
...ideals as complementary...
...Even before the onset of the "war on terror," Bush administration officials had, with few exceptions, spoken and acted in Nixonian Realist fashion, seeking to limit entanglements, defining power in terms of narrow military capabilities...
...Dobrianksy served in the Reagan during this period, Argentina's economic woes, the and Bush I administrations at the National Security administration sent conflicting signals on whether it Council, State Department, and US Information would help Argentina avoid complete economic colAgency...
...Madeleine Albright stepped down as chair of the National Democratic Institute, part of the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to become the Clinton administration's Secretary of State and she was deeply committed to the project of U.S...
...In each case, however, the conception of democracy was limited to free and fair elections and a market economy...
...After all, who could vote against the promotion of democracy...
...Cold War, it appeared that democracy promotion would continue to function as both a way for the United States to stay engaged in the world, and more strategically for presidents to secure congressional funding for their foreign policy priorities...
...It is a good or end in itself and it is a means to political and economic security...
...intentions, a State Department Spokesman said last July, "The United States will seek to work with any government that takes office in Nicaragua as the result of a free, fair, and democratic elections that clearly expresses the will of the people...
...The Clinton administration made democracy promotion an organizing principle of its foreign policy and was the first to speak about "market democracies...
...Natsios has argued that a change in thinking is necessary because two-thirds of the 75 countries in which AID works are in conflict or have been in conflict in the last five years...
...By one impact not just the foreign policies of other countries, account, rewriting job descriptions for the agency but their domestic policies as well...
...In the first eight months in office the administration made no significant statements about promoting democracy abroad...
...In one of Bush's own few statements specific to democracy promotion-a White House-issued proclamation for Captive Nations Week in July-he emphasized that more than two billion people live under authoritarianism, and that the United States "must remain vigilant in our support of those living under authoritarianism...
...Previously it had been more confrontational and unilateralist than the Clinton administration--especially with China and Russia-and less willing to cooperate with allies, but it is too early to know whether this new multilateralist approach will be applied in all foreign affairs...
...Latin America President Bush's controversial appointment of Elliott W has not been a major foreign policy area for Abrams to the NSC as Senior Director for Democracy, the Bush administration, and now the Middle East will Human Rights and International Operations is part of undoubtedly take precedence...
...interests...
...national interests...
...POLICY While it is early for an assessment of the Bush administration's posture with respect to the promotion of democracy abroad, particularly in Latin America, we have thus far seen little attention either to the U.S...
...At the cabinet level, however, there have been some subtle differences in officials' public statements on democracy promotion, with Secretary of State Colin Powell the most vocal about the important role the United States has to play in this area...
...If the Craner-Natsios worldview prevails and democracy funding is linked to foreign policy priorities, we can predict that in Latin America the countries to receive the most attention will continue to be Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and if the Sandinistas win in November, Nicaragua-but programs will be less about democracy and more about bringing to power officials who support U.S...
...foreign policy, he said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace...
...Craner left his position U.S...
...engagement in areas of the world where the United States had formerly played important roles...
...His previous work with World Vision and AID's office of disaster assistance gave him background in the Horn of Africa but little knowledge of democracy assistance...
...We could see a return to the early days of covert action, modeled on Nixon's support for Christian Democrats and conservative unions in Chile and Europe...
...This statement was accompanied by a request for a report to examine U.S...
...involvement overseas, calling for 40NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 40 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON U.S...
...During a meeting between Bush and South Korean leader Kim Dae Jung, Powell was forced to reverse his previous public statement that the Bush administration supported negotiations between the two Koreas...
...Idealpolitik shares characteristics of both Idealism and Realism, but is distinct...
...foreign policy...
...The position with which Realism is juxtaposed, Idealism, defines national interests more broadly to include state, individual, and global concerns (such as human rights), argues that security can be achieved through international law and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, considers conflict dangerous and avoidable assuming the right international structures are in place, and views values as an integral part of foreign policy decision making...
...q o a ti U g Although promoting democracy has never secured a large percentage of the U.S...
...To further the new priorities, Natsios and Freedom House, among others...
...Since President Ronald Reagan announced his commitment to the promotion of democracy in a speech to the British Parliament in 1982, there has been a bipartisan consensus in Washington that the United States should promote democracy abroad...
...Only after the Nicaraguan people voted in great numbers for the Sandinistas in the last municipal elections, did U.S...
...By contrast, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice has occasionally mentioned the importance of democracy in the context of free market economies, but her background and worldview lead her to concentrate her attention on other issues, namely, before September 11, Russia and maintaining a balance of power...
...commitments to international agreements, such as the Kyoto agreement on global climate change and the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty...
...responsible for democracy promotion programs at the Concerning one of the major crises in Latin America State Department...
...At the Summit of the Americas in April the United States helped insert language in the Plan of Action that "democracy is essential for peace, development and security in the Hemisphere," and this lan- If democra guage was adopted by the is linked to f Organization of American States...
...In Idealpolitik has proposed a reorganization of AID into three pillar fashion, Dobriansky has urged that U.S...
...Especially in light of the Realist inclinations of other key players in this administration, it is likely that the democracy promotion agenda will be eclipsed by other foreign policy priorities...
...Idealpolitik, which had offered a new framework with the end of the Cold War, has not taken hold...
...Promotion of Democracy, 1995...
...It reluctantly agreed mission on Public Diplomacy and she has served on to an IMF loan, contrary to Bush's campaign promises the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy that his administration would take a hands-off stance Vol XXXV, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 43REPORT ON U.S...
...In May, Bush said that priorities, we c U.S...
...Clinton emphasized market democracy, meaning a strong private sector and free markets as essential elements of democracy, dismissing the notion of social democracy and the conflicts between market economies and democratic institutions...
...government officials' speeches on democracy and human rights, using July 2001 as a sample, also indicates a shift from the previous administration, and a break with the agenda of the democracy promotion bureaucracy...
...Power is defined more inclusively than military capabilities, giving full weight to the power of ideas...
...IRI literature explains that "by aiding emerging democracies, IRI plays a valuable role in helping bring greater stability to the world...
...involvement abroad only to serve tration's orientation, which is predominantly Realist...
...Lorne Craner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, has helped to shift the focus of his program to religious discrimination, an agenda originally set by Congress but one embraced by President Bush...
...Powell also stated that the United States would take a cautious approach with Iraq-and the next day the United States bombed the outskirts of Baghdad...
...presidents have made a rhetorical commitment to democracy while supporting nondemocratic governments or forces if security or economic interests were at stake...
...government, despite Argentina's adoption of free market policies, dollarization of its economy, and a strong commitment to democracy...
Vol. 35 • November 2001 • No. 3
