Thursday, May 7, 2020

Is Spreading Democracy in the U.S. National Interest

The Truman Doctrine established a policy of containment against communist governments. People believed the spread of communism would overthrow the democratic ideals our country believed in and followed. After the policy of containment died down, a new policy of spreading democracy emerged. This new policy has both good and ill effects on the â€Å"helped† nations and our own. In 2011, there were 115 electoral democracies, representing nearly sixty percent of the world’s government were democratic. In 1989, just 41 percent of all governments were democratic (Current Issues, 2011-12, p. 168). So, is spreading Democracy in the U.S. national interest? Or should our nation employ a more hands-off approach? The textbook defines democracy as a†¦show more content†¦Lagon also states that †As for covert activity, the United States conducted secret operations to help forces of democracy in Western Europe early in the Cold War and in Eastern Europe later. Some cover t action was justified as promoting democracy when it was merely promoting anti-Soviet actors. Using transparent means to support democratization is best whenever possible.† Concerning international efforts, Lagon points out that in the past five years, the United Nations has gone farther in actively promoting civil society. In 2006, Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan launched the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) to support an array of civil society organizations. The UNDEF is underfunded but in President Obama’s 2010 address to the UN General Assembly he stated that â€Å"its time for every Member State . . . to increase the UN Democracy Fund.† Current Issues, 35th edition, examines both the pros and cons of spreading democracy. This text explains that promoting democracy is in the U.S. national interest because democracy creates a safer, more stable world. Democratic nations cooperate with other nations and the U.S. better because they are more answerable to their citizens. The text also claims that such nations will deny terrorists from a base from which to plan and carry out attacks. Purely looking at the benefits, the U.S. should be spreading democracy to every corner of the world. However, things with benefits always come with costs. As Lagon points out, U.S. enthusiasm forShow MoreRelatedCommunism And The Cold War Essay1127 Words   |  5 Pagesthe U.S. since before World War I, throughout the Cold War and is still until this day. When one thinks about communism, you conjure up images of the Red Scare that the Soviet Union induced and of other dictatorships throughout the western hemisphere and one might overlook the Marxist ideals that were being spread throughout our neighboring countries. These western countries were allies that the U.S. could not afford to lose during the Cold War. 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