Author : Oz Hassan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 27,19 MB
Release : 2013
Category : History
ISBN : 0415603102
This book generates a greater understanding, and critique, of the George W. Bush administration's Freedom Agenda for the Middle East and North Africa.
Author : Tamara Cofman Wittes
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 34,7 MB
Release : 2008-10-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0815794959
President Bush promised to democratize the Middle East, but the results so far have dispirited democracy advocates and brought their project into disrepute. After the debacle in Iraq and the electoral success of Hamas, the pursuit of Arab democracy seems to many observers a fool's errand, an unfortunate combination of ideology and wishful thinking. In F reedom's Unsteady March , Tamara Cofman Wittes dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East and lays out a better strategy for future efforts to promote democracy. Wittes argues that only the development of a more liberal and democratic politics in the Arab world will secure America's long-term goals in the region and that America must continue trying to foster progress in that direction. To do so, however, it must confront more honestly the risks of change and act more effectively to contain them. A dangerous combination of growing populations, economic stagnation, and political alienation poses the primary threat to Middle East stability today, severely testing the legitimacy and governability of key states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. If Arab governments cannot sustain the support of their citizens, they will find it difficult to work with America on issues of common concern such as stabilizing Iraq, confronting Iran on nuclear weapons, and promoting Arab-Israeli peace. Despite President Bush's failures, Wittes argues, the United States cannot afford to ignore the momentous social, economic, and political changes already taking place in Arab states. Wittes' detailed analysis of Arab politics and American policy presents an alternative—in her view, the only alternative: overcoming America's deep ambivalence about Arab democracy to support positive, liberal change in the region that will create a firmer foundation for Arab-American ties.
Author : Neil J. Makepeace
Publisher :
Page : 65 pages
File Size : 20,89 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Middle East
ISBN :
"The Bush Administration's foreign policy has comprised three key components: security through forward defence; a black-andwhite view of the post-9/1 1 world; and, most pervasively, the so-called freedom agenda. These elements combine in an approach that many see as imperious and detached from on-the-ground realities. The thesis of this paper is that the United States requires a more balanced and realistic policy agenda in the Middle East, which discards the strident promotion of constitutional democracy in favour of a less imperious approach based on values that are meaningful to Middle Eastern people and societies. Revised U.S. policies and supporting strategies should reflect the complex and volatile relationship between the Western and Islamic worlds. Some analyses suggest that their clash is inevitable, while others offer hope for an "alliance of civilizations." Such an alliance would require a concerted effort to reconcile Westem and Islamic ideologies, which do not appear to be wholly incompatible. The United States and her allies must seek, through their policies and actions in the Middle East, to empower Muslims who advocate moderate interpretations of the Islamic texts. Radical Islamists and so-called jihadi fighters must be denied theological credibility. The U.S. agenda in the Middle East should also attempt to empower moderate and liberalizing political influences in the region. Middle Eastern regimes occupy a broad spectrum and many are undertaking cautious programmes of liberalization. Political Islam is an increasingly important feature of this social and political landscape. Islamist political parties should be encouraged to operate in the mainstream of politics and to exert moderating influences over their followers. Thus, the United States should discard her strident promotion of constitutional democracy in favour of more carefully focused encouragement of social, economic and political reform in the Middle East. The paper offers a set of 16 recommendations that represent a more realistic and balanced agenda in the Middle East."--Abstract.
Author : James Traub
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 40,15 MB
Release : 2009-10-27
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1429941847
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 cause—the "Freedom Agenda," as he called it—to 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 America's 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 administration's largely failed efforts to bolster democratic forces abroad. In the end, Traub argues that democracy matters—for human rights, for reconciliation among ethnic and religious groups, for political stability and equitable development—but the United States must exercise caution in its efforts to spread it, matching its deeds to its words, both abroad and at home.
Author : Tamara Cofman Wittes
Publisher :
Page : 31 pages
File Size : 37,49 MB
Release : 2006
Category : Democratization
ISBN :
"This Saban Center Analysis Paper will assess what the Bush Administration's Freedom Agenda has accomplished in its first few years, and how well the policy shift it represents has become embedded in the institutions and operations of U.S. foreign policy. In implementing the Freedom Agenda, the U.S. government has deployed multiple tools of foreign policy, including the presidential bully pulpit and diplomatic pressure. This paper will focus on the policy architecture in place to promote the Freedom Agenda, laying out the funding mechanisms and programmatic structures of three major initiatives: the Middle East Free Trade Area Initiative; the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative; and democracy assistance programs including those managed by the Middle East Partnership Initiative, the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and the United States Agency for International Development. U.S. democracy assistance to the Middle East has increased considerably in recent years, but diplomatic efforts to support democratic development have lagged behind. However, the ultimate success of the United States' democracy promotion effort will rest in large part on the degree to which the Administration is able to build effective institutions to advance democracy that will outlast President Bush's term in office. Thus far, the Middle East Free Trade Area Initiative and the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative both present only limited means to achieve that goal"--Exec. summary (ix).
Author : Nelli Babayan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 165 pages
File Size : 48,90 MB
Release : 2017-10-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1317225198
This book examines Western efforts at democracy promotion, reactions by illiberal challengers and regional powers, and political and societal conditions in target states. It is argued that Western powers are not unequivocally committed to the promotion of democracy and human rights, while non-democratic regional powers cannot simply be described as "autocracy supporters". This volume examines in detail the challenges by three illiberal regional powers — China, Russia and Saudi Arabia — to Western (US and EU) efforts at democracy promotion. The contributions specifically analyze their actions in Ethiopia and Angola in the case of China, Georgia and Ukraine in the case of Russia, and Tunisia in the case of Saudi Arabia. Democratic powers such as the US or the EU usually prefer stability over human rights and democracy. If democratic movements threaten stability in a region, neither the US nor the EU supports them. As to illiberal powers, they are generally not that different from their democratic counterparts. They also prefer stability over turmoil. Neither Russia nor China nor Saudi Arabia explicitly promote autocracy. Instead, they seek to suppress democratic movements in their periphery the minute these groups threaten their security interests or are perceived to endanger their regime survival. This was previously published as a special issue of Democratization.
Author : Oz Hassan
Publisher : Policy Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 21,20 MB
Release : 2024-09-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1529240743
The return of the Taliban has undermined EU external action, reversed twenty years of state-building efforts and represents the most significant failure of EU foreign policy to date. Drawing on over 100 hours of interviews with key actors and an in-depth examination of the EU’s state-building efforts, this book offers unparalleled insights into the complex interplay between transatlantic relations and the resurgence of the Taliban. It critically evaluates the EU's strategies, advocating for a nuanced, historically informed approach to international relations. Indispensable for academics, policy makers and anyone vested in the intricacies of foreign interventions in an ever-complex global environment.
Author : Matthew Alan Hill
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 28,36 MB
Release : 2022-08-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1000630943
Did Donald Trump decisively transform and alter the course of US foreign policy? All presidents promise change, but few presidents promise changes as radical as Trump did during his presidency. The extent to which Trump delivered on that promise, however, remains hotly debated with little or no agreement. The chapters in this edited volume argue that much of this debate is a dialogue of the deaf where scholars speak past rather than to each other, where the basis for claims about change or continuity is unclear and where the argument and knowledge, consequently, fails to progress. At its heart, this is a problem of theory and methods. Employing a diverse range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, this book seeks to move the debate beyond a superficial focus on events to more fundamental questions of how change is defined, measured and explained and in doing so, attempts to advance understanding of foreign policy change and the extent to which Trump can really be considered to have been a transformative president. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Global Affairs.
Author : Wolfgang Mühlberger
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 190 pages
File Size : 25,22 MB
Release : 2020-02-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 303035217X
This book discusses the role of political narratives in shaping perceptions of instability and conceptions of order in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The authors illustrate how, in times of socio-political turmoil and outbursts of discontent such as the Arab Spring, political entrepreneurs explain and justify their political agendas by complementing hard power solutions with attractive ideas and discursive constructions that appeal to domestic constituencies and geopolitical allies. The book is divided into two parts. The first focuses on non-state actors, such as confessional communities and ideological movements, who aim to develop narratives that are convincing to their respective polities. It also studies regional powers that seek to determine their positions in a competitive environment via distinctive narrations of order. In part two, the authors investigate the narratives of global players that aim to explain and justify their role in an evolving international order.
Author : Tanja Börzel
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 27,40 MB
Release : 2017-10-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 131739111X
This book studies the reactions by external actors, including the European Union, to the events unfolding in the Arab world beginning in December 2010. In particular, contributors look at external actors' attempts to balance their desire for stability with their normative principles toward human rights and democracy. The book compares the action (and inaction) of the EU with other international and regional players, including the United States, Russia, Turkey and Israel, and assesses the response of these actors to the Arabellions’ events, analysing changes in their approaches to the Arab region. The contributions to this book answer three questions: (1) How have external actors assessed the ‘Arabellions’ and what role did they see for themselves in this context? (2) Which goals and instruments did external actors pursue toward the MENA region? In particular, how did they deal with conflicting goals, such as support for human rights and democracy, on the one hand, and concerns about security and stability, on the other? (3) How can we explain the varying responses of external actors to the Arabellions? This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.
