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
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