Is Democracy Exportable?

Can democratic states transplant the seeds of democracy into developing countries? What have political thinkers going back to the Greek city-states thought about their capacity to promote democracy? How can democracy be established in divided societies? In this timely volume a distinguished group of political scientists seeks answers to these and other fundamental questions behind the concept known as "democracy promotion." Following an illuminating concise discussion of what political philosophers from Plato to Montesquieu thought about the issue, the authors explore the structural preconditions (culture, divided societies, civil society) as well as the institutions and processes of democracy building (constitutions, elections, security sector reform, conflict, and trade). Along the way they share insights about what policies have worked, which ones need to be improved or discarded, and, more generally, what advanced democracies can do to further the cause of democratization in a globalizing world. In other words, they seek answers to the question, Is democracy exportable? Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Contributors......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 13 Introduction......Page 15 DEMOCRACY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY......Page 18 THE NEW CONTROVERSY......Page 22 A VARIETY OF PERSPECTIVES......Page 24 A MORAL IMPERATIVE?......Page 27 1 The Morality of Exporting Democracy: A Historical-Philosophical Perspective......Page 29 THE TRADITIONAL SOURCES OF DOUBT CONCERNING THE JUSTICE OF EXPORTING DEMOCRACY......Page 30 THE “JUST DISCOURSE” AND THE “LAW OF NATIONS”......Page 34 A NEW KIND OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC......Page 35 THE MODERN DOUBTS, AND THE CHALLENGE FROM THE RADICAL LEFT......Page 40 THE KANTIAN COSMOPOLITAN RESPONSE......Page 42 CONCLUSION......Page 45 STRUCTURAL PRECONDITIONS......Page 49 2 Re-Integrating the Study of Civil Society and the State......Page 51 The German Case......Page 53 The Italian Case......Page 57 ISLAMISM......Page 60 CONCLUSIONS......Page 65 3 Encountering Culture......Page 71 CONCEPTUALIZING CULTURE......Page 72 ASSESSING CULTURAL DISPOSITION TOWARD DEMOCRACY......Page 74 Tolerance......Page 75 Spirit of Equality......Page 79 Nationalism, Prickly and Smooth......Page 83 Nationalism and the Democracy-Promoters......Page 86 Assessing the Quality of Nationalism......Page 87 A General Assessment......Page 92 Prescriptions......Page 94 THE PROBLEM OF DIVIDED BUT STRONG COMMUNAL, CULTURALLY BASED IDENTITIES......Page 99 WHEN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS EXACERBATE COMMUNAL CONFLICTS......Page 104 MAKING DEMOCRACY: SOME DISCOURAGING HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS......Page 113 WHEN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS EASE COMMUNAL CONFLICTS......Page 109 PEACEFUL AND LESS PEACEFUL STRATEGIES FOR INCORPORATING MINORITIES......Page 116 HOW TO PROMOTE TOLERANT DEMOCRACY......Page 120 INTRODUCTION......Page 124 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IDEA OF CIVIL SOCIETY......Page 125 THE PROBLEM OF DIFFERENCE AND DEMOCRATIC REGIMES......Page 128 CONSTITUTIVE DIFFERENCE AND TOLERANCE......Page 133 CONCLUSION......Page 140 INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES......Page 143 6 Electoral Engineering in New Democracies: Can Preferred Electoral Outcomes Be Engineered?......Page 145 Secondary Election Rules......Page 147 International Influence......Page 148 II. THE GOALS OF ELECTORAL ENGINEERING: MINIMIZING THE RISKS WHILE MAINTAINING THE BENEFITS OF COMPETITIVE ELECTIONS......Page 149 Undemocratic Winners......Page 150 ELECTIONS AND ETHNIC CONFLICT......Page 151 Exclusion: Women and Ethnic Minorities......Page 152 Dysfunctional or Unstable Party Systems......Page 153 III. ELECTORAL ENGINEERING: PROSPECTS AND LIMITATIONS......Page 154 Electoral Engineering and Undesirable Winners......Page 155 Election Monitoring, Foreign Aid, and Electoral Manipulation......Page 157 Electoral Systems and Ethnic Conflict......Page 159 Electoral Systems and Descriptive Representation......Page 160 Electoral Systems and the Party System......Page 164 IV. NAVIGATING COMPETING GOALS......Page 167 CONCLUSIONS......Page 168 CONSTITUTIONAL MOMENTS......Page 169 Democracy......Page 170 Temperance......Page 171 Durability......Page 172 HYPOTHESES......Page 173 EMPIRICAL CHALLENGES......Page 174 MEASURES OF INCLUSIVENESS......Page 176 Democracy......Page 179 Descriptive Statistics......Page 180 PATTERNS IN THE DATA......Page 182 CONCLUSION......Page 189 8 Building Democratic Armies......Page 192 Conscripts or Volunteers?......Page 195 The Military as Social Laboratory......Page 196 MILITARY PREROGATIVES......Page 197 CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT......Page 199 EXPLAINING MILITARY POLITICS IN DIVERSE CONTEXTS......Page 200 CRAFTING CIVILIAN CONTROL OVER THE POST-PRAETORIAN MILITARY......Page 201 Classificatory Schemes, Borrowed Theories, Miscellaneous Insights......Page 202 COMPARING CASES OF DEMOCRATIC ARMY-BUILDING......Page 203 Post-Praetorian Polities......Page 204 AFTER COMMUNISM......Page 209 CONCLUSION......Page 216 9 Democratization, Conflict, and Trade......Page 219 DEMOCRATIZATION AND WAR......Page 220 THE DANGERS OF INCOMPLETE DEMOCRATIZATION......Page 223 DEMOCRATIZATION AND WAR IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE......Page 225 DEMOCRATIZATION AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE......Page 227 DEMOCRATIZATION AND TRADE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE......Page 229 CONCLUSION......Page 234 10 Exporting Democracy: Does It Work?......Page 236 PRIOR RESEARCH: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?......Page 240 U.S. FOREIGN DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE: HOW MUCH?......Page 246 Estimation......Page 249 Results......Page 252 CONCLUSIONS......Page 254 Conclusion: Is Democracy Exportable?......Page 256 DEMOCRACY AS AN EXPORT......Page 257 POPULAR VIEWS OF DEMOCRACY......Page 259 DEMOCRACY – INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES......Page 261 CAUSE FOR CAUTION......Page 263 DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE......Page 266 WHO?......Page 267 WHAT TO DO?......Page 269 WHAT TO AVOID......Page 272 Bibliography......Page 279 Index......Page 307 Can Democratic States Transplant The Seeds Of Democracy Into Developing Countries? What Have Political Thinkers Going Back To The Greek City-states Thought About Their Capacity To Promote Democracy? How Can Democracy Be Established In Divided Societies? This Books Answers These And Other Fundamental Questions. The Morality Of Exporting Democracy : An Historical-philosophical Perspective / Thomas L. Pangle -- Re-integrating The Study Of Civil Society And The State / Sheri Berman -- Encountering Culture / M. Steven Fish -- Does Democracy Work In Deeply Divided Societies? / Daniel Chirot -- Democracy, Civil Society, And The Problem Of Tolerance / Adam Seligman -- Electoral Engineering In New Democracies : Can Preferred Electoral Outcomes Be Engineered? / Robert G. Moser -- Does It Matter How A Constitution Is Created? / John Carey -- Building Democratic Armies / Zoltan Barany -- Democratization, Conflict, And Trade / Edward Mansfield And Jack Snyder -- Exporting Democracy : Does It Work? / Mitchell Seligson, Steven Finkel, And Anibal Perez-linan. Edited By Zolton Barany, Robert G. Moser. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-291) And Index. Can democratic states transplant the seeds of democracy into developing countries? What have political thinkers going back to the Greek city-states thought about their capacity to promote democracy? How can democracy be established in divided societies? This books answers these and other fundamental questions behind the concept known as 'democracy promotion.' Following an illuminating concise discussion of what political philosophers from Plato to Montesquieu thought about the issue, the authors explore the structural preconditions (culture, divided societies, civil society) as well as the institutions and processes of democracy building (constitutions, elections, security sector reform, conflict, and trade). Along the way they share insights about what policies have worked, which ones need to be improved or discarded, and, more generally, what advanced democracies can do to further the cause of democratization in a globalizing world. In other words, they seek answers to the question, Is democracy exportable?