Democracy and INTL Politics and US DEM Promotion Flashcards
Which Admin wanted to shift from containment to enlargement
Clinton started it and Bush continued it
What are two key points to rememebr about democracy
Democracy is a process not an outcome
Democracy promotion assumes that democracy is the best system going
What are some defining aspects of a democracy
Public Contestation (free and fair elections, and individual freedoms needed) Inclusion (Universal Sufferage) Democratic Soverignty( the positions ppl are elected to actually mean something)
What are 3 positive outcomes of democracy
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
Two arguments against democracy
1) un informed majorities are dangerous we should just listen to the experts 2) inefficiency ie democracies move to slowly
Answers to the critics
its not perfect but its the best weve got!,
what is a critical assumption made when talking about US FP in context of democracy
Internal workings of a state influence the state’s FP
How does Democracy influence Interstate relations (x4)
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
What are two more influencers of democracy in Interstae relations
more cooperation with democracies ( good trade agreements, globalization, foreign investment like democracies, military alliances) More likely to win wars
What is the backbone of democracy promotion strategy
The democratic peace
what is the democratic peace
the idea that when two countries are both democracies then they have less of an incentive to fight each other
What is the logic behind the democratic peace
electoral constraints raise the political costs of war, democracy solves the committment problem during peace settlements, shared democratic identity of compromise
Dem promotion during WIlson and Ltin America
was criticized as imperical
dem promotion during the cold war
containment put ahead of dem promotion b/c we allied with some authoritarian regimes that were against USSR
Dem promotion and the end of the cold war
lots of democracy promotion b/c soviet collapse proves the ability of democracy to promote security ( argumetn for Dem promotion strengthened)
Democracy promotion after the end of the cold war
CLinton used Dem peace theory to expand nato
What are the 3 pillars of Wilson’s democracy promotion that Encar thinks are flawed
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)
What are Encar’s thoughts on democratic peace
it doesn’t work between enwly established dems and then only in interstate conflicts. New dems prone to civil war and aggression
What does Encar thing about the process of Democratization
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
What are some of the problems when thinking about Democratic stability theory and democratization
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)
Grand Strategy Aint partisan
believe it
What is Obamas real FP
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.
What is the state of the current Dem promotion debate
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
