Democracy and its dilemmas.

• Author: Howell, Llewellyn D.
• Position: World Watcher

HAS AMERICA LOST ITS WAY? In the aftermath of World War II, America immediately became the champion of the oppressed, slugging away at "Godless communism" on behalf of U.S.-style democracy. Washington divided the world not between communism and capitalism, but between communism and democracy, portraying the Soviet Union as a nation where individuals had no role in the selection of their government, and even for a few years argued that colonialism should be ended. Our case was that participatory democracy was the solution to the ills of the developing world.

This all changed in 1948 as the Soviets drew their line in the sand through Europe and began to threaten the Western European states. To help save France, our oldest ally, the U.S. dropped its support of the Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh in favor of alliance-making with all those who opposed communism, no matter what their flavor.

This drift in American strategic thinking, away from democratizing the world to delay in favor of immediate security, was best represented by the thinking of Jean Kirkpatrick, ambassador to the United Nations in the Reagan Administration, who sought to distinguish between "totalitarianism" and "authoritarianism" in separating allies from enemies in the Cold War. Totalitarians were those who controlled all aspects of life in their countries, while authoritarians were those whose politics were rigid hierarchies, but various other aspects of life, such as the economy, were left to some form of less-controlling philosophy. Through the end of the Cold War in 1989, the u.s. stayed this course with the argument that the opportunities for democracy would develop in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's demise. As long as America remained the bastion of democracy at home, its example would present the world the ultimate political alternative.

The expansion of democracy faltered on a number of counts. Primary among these was the huge and still-developing demand for oil, which came primarily from countries that happened to have nondemocratic and even antidemocratic traditions and cultures.

There was genuine sentiment in the Clinton Administration to promote the expansion of democracy around the world, and, indeed, there was an expansion during Pres. Bill Clinton's eight years in office, particularly in Latin America, but elsewhere as well. However, it did not occur in the Islamic world, especially among those nations that overlay oil. Saudi Arabia is the prime case in...