Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was an excellently-written and interesting round up of the history of America's "Freedom Agenda", its promotion of democracy abroad, with particular reference to George W Bush's "War on Terror" and how that has influenced global opinion on the USA.

The book looks closely at the experience of democracy in the Philippines, Mali and Egypt, as well as the different ways in which Presidents approached the dissemination of democracy. He covered well the difficulties that Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib have caused in global views of America's brand of democracy and encapsulated much of outsiders' views of the Freedom Agenda as 'naïveté and hubris'.

The book was perhaps a little disappointing in that offered few recommendations for the future under Barack Obama. What's clear from history is that democracy works very differently and takes a very different form depending on the country and that few successes in one situation can be automatically applied to others. What was also very surprising to this British reader was the vast amount of money the US pays to other nations to try to bargain with - much of which seems to do little good. It would have been good to explore how this money might be more effectively used and whether the cost of spreading democracy is considered worthwhile by the average American.

This was overall a very good read and provided much food for thought.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

A succinct history of how America has tried to promote democracy abroad starting with the Philippines at the start of the century.

The author is right with the dictum that "America gets too much credit". Too much when things go wrong and too much when things go right. America's influence and its' ability to sway events is also much over-emphasized.

Mr. Traub points to the blatant hypocrisy and duality of the Bush administration in pushing democracy by waging war in Iraq. After the fall of Saddam, Rumsfeld and Cheney had little interest in sustaining democracy (as if that would have been an easy possibility in sectarian Iraq).

The author makes a good point that few countries are indeed ready for democracy. Elections are over-rated as being a significant indicator of a democratic country. Barack Obama pointed out that elections were not a part of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms (speech, religion, freedom from fear and want) The chapters on Egypt and Mali were particularly good in describing the limitations and what is needed for promoting democracy. A good case was made for aligning with moderate Islamic parties in Egypt.