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

By James Traub

Book Overview

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 hasproven 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374158479
• ISBN13: 9780374158477
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Naïveté and Hubris

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