with Thomas Carothers , Vice President for International Politics and Governance, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

In recent years, the international standing of democracy has faced challenges from myriad directions: from the troubled state-building attempts in Iraq to the meteoric economic growth of authoritarian China. These realities have caused many in both the developed and developing worlds to question the validity of democracy promotion as a tool for development. Such questions become especially important in the context of the fragile democracies in the developing world and post-conflict states. In the 21st century, where does "democracy" intersect with "effective governance"? Should democracy promotion still be considered a central tool for development?

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Thomas Carothers
Thomas Carothers is vice president for international politics and governance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an independent international affairs institute in Washington, D.C. He oversees the Endowment's programs in various areas and directs the Democracy and Rule of Law Project, a project he founded, which analyzes the state of democracy around the world and efforts by Western governments, non-governmental organizations, and international institutions to promote democracy abroad. Widely recognized as a leading international authority on democracy promotion,

Mr. Carothers has worked on democracy assistance projects for many public and private organizations and carried out extensive field research on democracy-building programs in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He also has significant experience in the fields of development, human rights, comparative politics, international institutions, and foreign aid. He is the author of five critically acclaimed books on democracy promotion: Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in New Democracies (2006); Critical Mission: Essays on Democracy Promotion (Carnegie, 2004), Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve (Carnegie, 1999), Assessing Democracy Assistance: The Case of Romania (Carnegie, 1996) and In the Name of Democracy: U.S. Policy Toward Latin America in the Reagan Years (University of California, 1991). He is also editor or co-editor of three others, Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge (Carnegie, 2006); Uncharted Journey: Promoting Democracy in the Middle East (Carnegie, 2005), Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion (Carnegie, 2000). He has also written many articles in major journals and newspapers including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, the National Interest, World Policy Journal, Harvard Law Review, Journal of Democracy, Democratization, The Washington Quarterly, Freedom Review, and Current History.

Mr. Carothers is an adjunct professor in the Legal Studies Department of the Central European University in Budapest and at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He serves on advisory boards of the Center for Global Development, the Open Society Institute, and Democratization. Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment in 1993, Mr. Carothers practiced international and corporate law with the Washington-based law firm of Arnold & Porter and served as an attorney in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State. He has been an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Mr. Carothers is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the London School of Economics, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and Harvard College.

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Repairing Democracy Promotion By Thomas Carothers
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town Friday, September 14, 2007; 12:00 AM
U.S. democracy promotion is in a deeply troubled state. The Bush administration's close identification of democracy building with the war in Iraq has discredited the concept both at home and abroad. America's standing as a global symbol of democracy and human rights has been crippled by the many U.S. abuses of the rule of law in the war on terrorism. The glaring gap between the president's sweeping rhetoric about a freedom agenda and his administration's many efforts to secure economic and security favors from autocratic allies around the world multiplies the cynicism and confusion. So great is the current incoherence that the president describes himself as a dissident of his own administration's policies. A generation of work to build consensus at home and legitimacy abroad for U.S. democracy promotion is in disarray. As the leading U.S. presidential candidates unfold their foreign-policy visions, they have touched on democracy promotion, but not yet gone deeply into what they would do to put it back on track. It is commendable that none has urged an isolationist retreat, yet mere affirmations of a determination to renew America's commitment to advancing democracy are not enough. Although the United States can and should be a force for democracy in the world, repairing the damage and recovering such a role will require deep-reaching changes. To start with, the close association between democracy promotion and U.S.-led military interventions and forcible regime change policies must be ended. If the United States needs to use military force to defend its national security in the future it should do so on these terms and not attempt to justify its actions as a democratizing mission. Doing so builds no substantial support abroad for the intervention and only taints the democracy promotion concept. Just as importantly, the United States must clean up its act with regard to respecting the rule of law in the war on terrorism. This means many things, including ending torture and other abuses of all detainees and prisoners, closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, abolishing extraordinary rendition to torture-practicing foreign intelligence agencies, ending the practice of holding "ghost prisoners," and closing secret prisons. Any post-Bush effort to relaunch democracy promotion without regaining the power of the positive U.S. example will be stillborn. Inconsistencies in the application of democracy policies must be reduced. The complexity of U.S. interests in the world inevitably limits the role of ideals in U.S. foreign policy. Nevertheless, the United States can show the world it takes democracy seriously if it demonstrates a willingness to apply genuine pressure for democratic change, not only on hostile regimes but on some friendly tyrants as well, such as Pakistan and Egypt. Democracy promotion will need to be repositioned in the war on terrorism, away from the role of rhetorical centerpiece. It's an appealing notion that democratization will undercut the roots of violent Islamic radicalism. Yet democracy is not an antiterrorist elixir. At times democratization empowers political moderates over radicals, but it can also have the opposite effect. Established democracies from Spain and Great Britain to Indonesia, India, and the Philippines struggle with domestic terrorism. Under dictatorship, Iraq had no al-Qaeda problem. With a weak elected government, it does. Moreover, casting the war on terrorism as a global campaign for democracy plays badly in Muslim societies where suspicions about U.S. political interventionism are fierce. Finally, U.S. democracy promotion must be made less America-centric. Many established democracies and international organizations are engaged in democracy support around the world. When U.S. politicians speak about democracy promotion, they should take note of this fact and not portray the United States as the lone eagle of global democracy promotion. U.S. pro-democracy diplomacy and aid should give greater attention to working jointly with such partners. The more U.S. democracy promotion is seen as part of a broad-based global effort rather than a special American cause, the more effective it will be. Recovering credibility on democracy promotion will not be easy or fast. Reputational damage on foreign policy takes only a short time to accrue but years to overcome. And the international context, quite apart from U.S. policy woes, is far from the heady days of the fall of the Berlin wall and democracy's post-Cold War surge. China and Russia are prospering through what many people in the developing world see as an attractive model of authoritarian capitalism. High energy prices are providing a financial bonanza to numerous resource-rich autocratic governments. Large numbers of citizens in fledgling democracies are disillusioned with democracy as they experience it. Nevertheless, this is an effort worth making. Democracy is only one of a complex swirl of U.S interests, but the United States benefits in many small and large ways when democracy advances in the world. As the U.S. presidential primary campaign enters into full swing, the candidates should be pressed to go beyond slogans to concrete plans in this domain. And when one of them eventually takes office, he or she should be pressed to move from pleasing rhetoric to meaningful deeds. Thomas Carothers is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of the new Carnegie report Democracy Promotion During and After Bush.