James Traub - The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did)

The Freedom Agenda; Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did)

As we leave behind an era in which America tried to assert democracy by force (and often failed), the question arises: what part of our efforts to spread democracy can we preserve for the future? In The Freedom Agenda, James Traub traces the history of Americas democratic evangelizing, offering an assessment of the George W. Bush administrations failed efforts abroad. And he puts forth the argument that democracy matters--for human rights, the resolution of conflicts, political stability and equitable development. But America must exercise caution in spreading it, both internationally and at home. James Traub is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has written four books, including The Devils Playground and The Best Intentions. He lives in New York City. Americans have been trying to shape democracy around the world for more than a century. It is the American mission, our distinctive form of evangelism. But when President Bush declared, in his second inaugural address, that the survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands, he elevated this causethe Freedom Agenda, as he called itto the central theme of American foreign policy. Yet the war in Iraq has proven the folly of seeking to impose American democracy by force. As we leave the Bush era behind, the question arises: What part of our efforts to spread democracy can we rescue from this failure?The Freedom Agenda traces the history of Americas democratic evangelizing. James Traub, a journalist for The New York Times Magazine, describes the rise and fall of the Freedom Agenda during the Bush years, in part through interviews with key administration officials. He offers a richly detailed portrait of the administrations largely failed efforts to bolster democratic forces abroad. In the end, Traub argues that democracy mattersfor human rights, for reconciliation among ethnic and religious groups, for political stability and equitable developmentbut the United States must exercise caution in its efforts to spread it, matching its deeds to its words, both abroad and at home. 'Unfreedom is on the march. Freedom Houses annual report for 2007 grimly noted that there had been reversals for liberty in one-fifth of the worlds countries, including places like Egypt, Kenya and Venezuela, as well as both Russia and Georgia. Chinas one-party state, which props up brutal governments in Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe, has been preening in the Olympic spotlight. And Russia is on the march in a totally nonmetaphorical way. In his second Inaugural Address, George W. Bush thundered, 'It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.' Instead, the bloody fiasco in Iraq threatens to discredit the whole enterprise of democratizationpa rticularly if done by Americans. As James Traub asks in The Freedom Agenda, his fast-paced and absorbing new book: 'How, today, can we promote anything, much less democracy?' . . . Traub is blistering on American torture of detainees, correctly tracing it back to Bushs own decision to duck the Geneva Conventions. Interviewing senior administration officials, Traub finds them oddly oblivious about what torture has done to Americas image in the Middle East and far beyond. One tells him that the idea that anger at America hurts its ability to promote democracy is 'a dictators argument' . . . Traub sensibly argues that foreigners can do much more to influence Mali or Zambia than they can Russia or China. One of his success stories is American support for Serbian democrats, who ousted Slobodan Milosevic after he tried to steal an election in 2000. Hes impressed with Barack Obamas calls for curbing global poverty as well as authoritarianism