Advancing Democracy Abroad

Michael A. McFaul, on leave as professor of political science at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is special assistant to President Obama for National Security Affairs and senior director of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the United States National Security Council.

After eight years of President Bush's trumpeting the virtues of promoting freedom and democracy abroad but achieving limited results, many Americans have grown suspicious of democratic development as a goal of American foreign policy. As a new administration reviews the role democratization will play in its foreign policy, distinguished Stanford University political scientist and Hoover Institution senior fellow Michael McFaul calls for a reaffirmation of democracy's advance as a goal of U.S. foreign policy and sets out a radically new course to achieve it. In Advancing Democracy Abroad, McFaul explains how democracy provides a more accountable system of government, greater economic prosperity, and better security compared with other systems of government. He then shows how Americans have benefited from the advance of democracy abroad in the past, and speculates about security, economic, and moral benefits for the United States from potential democratic gains around the world. The final chapters explore past examples of successful democracy promotion strategies and outline proposals for effectively supporting democratic development in the future.Published in cooperation with the Hoover Institution

In Advancing Democracy Abroad, McFaul explains how democracy provides a more accountable system of government, greater economic prosperity, and better security compared with other systems of government. He then shows how Americans have benefited from the advance of democracy abroad in the past, and speculates about security, economic, and moral benefits for the United States from potential democratic gains around the world.

After eight years of President Bush's trumpeting the virtues of promoting freedom and democracy abroad but achieving limited results, many Americans have grown suspicious of democratic development as a goal of American foreign policy. As a new administration reviews the role democratization will play in its foreign policy, distinguished Stanford University political scientist and Hoover Institution senior fellow Michael McFaul calls for a reaffirmation of democracy's advance as a goal of U.S. foreign policy and sets out a radically new course to achieve it. In Advancing Democracy Abroad, McFaul explains how democracy provides a more accountable system of government, greater economic prosperity, and better security compared with other systems of government. He then shows how Americans have benefited from the advance of democracy abroad in the past, and speculates about security, economic, and moral benefits for the United States from potential democratic gains around the world. The final chapters explore past examples of successful democracy promotion strategies and outline proposals for effectively supporting democratic development in the future. Published in cooperation with the Hoover Institution

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Chapter 1: The Backlash Against Democracy Promotion
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: The Value of Democracy
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Democracy and AMerican National Interests
Chapter 5 Chapter 4: Is More Democratization Good for the U.S.?
Chapter 6 Chapter 5: We Can Do Better: Supporting Democratic Development More Effectively
Chapter 7 Chapter 6: Encouraging the Internationalization of Democracy Promotion
Chapter 8 Acknowledgements
9 Notes
10 Index