Game Theory
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 5, 2006
- 8,545
- 799
With the end of the cold war, British and U.S. policymakers sought a number of rationales to justify continued engagement in the world and to promote American interests. Republicans and Democrats alike were attracted to a framework developed by the Reagan administration: the U.S. promotion of democracy. The Clinton administration went further than Reagan and Bush, announcing in 1993 that all U.S. foreign policy would be guided by the doctrine of "enlargement," aimed at expanding the community of democratic states.
Although this rhetoric indicated a shift in thinking from the former policy of containment (no longer necessary after the collapse of the Soviet Union), it was not backed up with significant policy initiatives designed to implement it. There were minor bureaucratic rearrangements such as the creation of the Center for Democracy and Governance at the Agency for International Development (AID) and the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department. Bill Clinton's attempt to create a position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping at the Department of Defense was thwarted by Congress, but a special Assistant for Democracy was named at the National Security Council (NSC).
Promoting democracy, the Clinton administration has argued, is valuable not only for its own sake but also because it enhances free trade and economic growth and promotes global security. As President Clinton said in his 1994 State of the Union address, "Democracies don't attack each other," and therefore "the best strategy to insure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere." However, one can argue that this "democratic peace theory" is based more on wishful thinking than empirical evidence especially at times when Kenya is on a brink of civil war and guess what the US state response:
Sunday--White House endorses poll and hails new Kenyan leader.
Monday--White House signals doubts about Kenyan election.
how about watching tonights episode of NEWSNIGHT and probably you can understand how this BBC debate on democratization and democracy. Its my hope we will have a meaningful discussion on the subject:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
Although this rhetoric indicated a shift in thinking from the former policy of containment (no longer necessary after the collapse of the Soviet Union), it was not backed up with significant policy initiatives designed to implement it. There were minor bureaucratic rearrangements such as the creation of the Center for Democracy and Governance at the Agency for International Development (AID) and the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department. Bill Clinton's attempt to create a position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Democracy and Peacekeeping at the Department of Defense was thwarted by Congress, but a special Assistant for Democracy was named at the National Security Council (NSC).
Promoting democracy, the Clinton administration has argued, is valuable not only for its own sake but also because it enhances free trade and economic growth and promotes global security. As President Clinton said in his 1994 State of the Union address, "Democracies don't attack each other," and therefore "the best strategy to insure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere." However, one can argue that this "democratic peace theory" is based more on wishful thinking than empirical evidence especially at times when Kenya is on a brink of civil war and guess what the US state response:
Sunday--White House endorses poll and hails new Kenyan leader.
Monday--White House signals doubts about Kenyan election.
how about watching tonights episode of NEWSNIGHT and probably you can understand how this BBC debate on democratization and democracy. Its my hope we will have a meaningful discussion on the subject:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
