International Democracy Promotion
How Western governments and international organizations try to support democracy abroad, the record of success and failure, and the backlash against it.
The Democracy Promotion Industry
Since the end of the Cold War, Western governments and international organizations have invested billions in promoting democracy abroad. The US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID, the EU's democracy assistance programs, and organizations like the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute fund election monitoring, civil society training, judicial reform, media development, and governance programs in countries transitioning toward (or away from) democracy.
The record is mixed. Democracy assistance played a positive role in Central European transitions after 1989 and in some African democratization processes. Election observation missions have been credited with deterring fraud in dozens of countries. Training programs for journalists, judges, and legislators have strengthened institutions in fragile democracies. But the big-ticket attempts at democracy promotion, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, were catastrophic failures that discredited the entire enterprise.
