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April 2000

Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve By Thomas Carothers The Carnegie Endowment for IInternational Peace Click on the title to buy the book

The promotion of democracy worldwide was articulated as a goal of American foreign policy in a June 8, 1982 address by President Reagan to the British Parliament. Reagan's espousal of this cause had an opportunistic element. At the time, his Administration was preoccupied with developments in Central America where it had "drawn the line" (in Secretary of State Alexander Haig's words) in El Salvador by assisting the armed forces there to fend off a leftist insurgency while covertly organizing a rightist insurgency to topple the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Reagan encountered resistance in Congress to providing the funds he sought for the Salvadoran war because of accounts by human rights groups and the media of severe abuses by the military there, including massacres of peasants and thousands of death-squad killings. Some in Congress also attempted to obstruct Reagan's war in Nicaragua. Though the Sandinistas persecuted political dissenters and harassed an opposition newspaper, their rule was not so bloody as in nearby El Salvador.

In an attempt to make the case that the human-rights situation was actually worse in Nicaragua, Reagan focused on political developments. The Sandinistas had deferred elections until 1985, six years after they seized power. In contrast, El Salvador had just held elections for its National Assembly that produced televised images of long lines of people in the sun waiting their turn to vote. President Reagan told the British that Salvadorans "braved ambush and gunfire, trudging miles to vote for freedom." Equating human rights with elections, Reagan committed the United States to a global effort to promote democracy. "What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term," the President said, "the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history."

As Thomas Carothers---who is Vice President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and widely recognized as the most serious student of foreign-aid programs promoting democracy---shows us, the promotion of democracy has since become an enduring feature of America's role in the world and President Reagan's stress on elections has remained prominent. It produced the establishment of such bodies as the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, ostensibly private bodies nevertheless paid for by tax dollars. These groups play a key role in promoting free elections ---which is one of three elements that form what Carothers calls the "democratic template" employed by the United States. The two other elements are American-style federalism and separation of powers, and support for "civil society" through non-governmental organizations that promote social and environmental causes, labor unions, and independent media.

Though Carothers is frequently critical of the ways this agenda is carried out, he avoids sweeping indictments or proposals. Mostly, he limits himself to sensible observations about how things could be improved. He wants programs developed with a better grasp of local context, with less reliance on expensive intermediaries, with less political interference by U.S. ambassadors, with greater recognition that building democracy is a long-term process, with greater reliance on local responsibility and, above all, with more modest expectations.

This is a far cry from Reagan's crusade. It is, however, more realistic. Although walking miles and standing in line in the sun to cast ballots is a moving tribute to the people's thirst for democracy, building it requires a lot more than simply organizing an election.