Democracy and INTL Politics and US DEM Promotion

Question 1

Which Admin wanted to shift from containment to enlargement

Answer 1

Clinton started it and Bush continued it

Question 2

What are two key points to rememebr about democracy

Answer 2

Democracy is a process not an outcome

Democracy promotion assumes that democracy is the best system going

Question 3

What are some defining aspects of a democracy

Answer 3

Public Contestation (free and fair elections, and individual freedoms needed) Inclusion (Universal Sufferage) Democratic Soverignty( the positions ppl are elected to actually mean something)

Question 4

What are 3 positive outcomes of democracy

Answer 4

1) Constratins potential for state repression by forcing politicians to answer to people 2) Promotes greater individual responsibility so people can follow their own morals and ambitions 3) democracy is more successful politically and economically

Question 5

Two arguments against democracy

Answer 5

1) un informed majorities are dangerous we should just listen to the experts 2) inefficiency ie democracies move to slowly

Question 6

Answers to the critics

Answer 6

its not perfect but its the best weve got!,

Question 7

what is a critical assumption made when talking about US FP in context of democracy

Answer 7

Internal workings of a state influence the state’s FP

Question 8

How does Democracy influence Interstate relations (x4)

Answer 8

1) elections punish officials for pursuing costly policies (encourages caution that autocrats dont have) 2) checks and balances make the status quo hard to change and makes it easier to sustain intl committments 3) We develop good habits of compromise and conciiation that carry over intl 4) Transparent decision making makes Foreign govts know what everyone’s thinking

Question 9

What are two more influencers of democracy in Interstae relations

Answer 9

more cooperation with democracies ( good trade agreements, globalization, foreign investment like democracies, military alliances) More likely to win wars

Question 10

What is the backbone of democracy promotion strategy

Answer 10

The democratic peace

Question 11

what is the democratic peace

Answer 11

the idea that when two countries are both democracies then they have less of an incentive to fight each other

Question 12

What is the logic behind the democratic peace

Answer 12

electoral constraints raise the political costs of war, democracy solves the committment problem during peace settlements, shared democratic identity of compromise

Question 13

Dem promotion during WIlson and Ltin America

Answer 13

was criticized as imperical

Question 14

dem promotion during the cold war

Answer 14

containment put ahead of dem promotion b/c we allied with some authoritarian regimes that were against USSR

Question 15

Dem promotion and the end of the cold war

Answer 15

lots of democracy promotion b/c soviet collapse proves the ability of democracy to promote security ( argumetn for Dem promotion strengthened)

Question 16

Democracy promotion after the end of the cold war

Answer 16

CLinton used Dem peace theory to expand nato

Question 17

What are the 3 pillars of Wilson’s democracy promotion that Encar thinks are flawed

Answer 17

1) democracy benefits all countries (E says it doesn’t) 2) democracy is a universal value (E says some countries have big barriers to dem) 3) the US has a moral obligation to spread democracy
(E says that we have yet to be successful in promoting democracy through military interventions)

Question 18

What are Encar’s thoughts on democratic peace

Answer 18

it doesn’t work between enwly established dems and then only in interstate conflicts. New dems prone to civil war and aggression

Question 19

What does Encar thing about the process of Democratization

Answer 19

he thinks it is something that a country must do on its own once it establoishes a certain level of economic development. WE should be promoting Dem by trying to create the right conditions for it to spring up naturally. GO Long term and hands off

Question 20

What are some of the problems when thinking about Democratic stability theory and democratization

Answer 20

DST only applies to the established dems (transition isn’t peaceful) and has only been present post WWI. Intitutions only protect the process not the outcome (Israelis elect Hamas) Are we sure its not American dominance that is creating this stability and not democracy itself? Democracies may only get along b/c they are part of a larger global coalition (correlation is not causation)

Question 21

Grand Strategy Aint partisan

Answer 21

believe it

Question 22

What is Obamas real FP

Answer 22

he is cynical about progress in the Middle East and says they are at least a generation away from solving their probz, doesn’t care about dem promotion except for right after the ARab spring.

Question 23

What is the state of the current Dem promotion debate

Answer 23

should we support autocrats that are friendly or should we still be promoting Dem using Economic means only. Nobody thinks spread via invasion is a good idea anymore