1st Edition
Democracy Promotion and Conflict-Based Reconstruction The United States & Democratic Consolidation in Bosnia, Afghanistan & Iraq
This book investigates US foreign policy and tests the hypothesis that transition-inspired democracy promotion will successfully establish liberal democracy around the world, and thus fulfil the aims of the American mission and its application of the democratic peace. It features two detailed case studies exploring political liberalization in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and suggests that the conclusions are applicable to other cases by highlighting the US mission in Iraq.
The author critically examines US foreign policy in a theoretical and historical context, focusing on the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) democracy assistance. It demonstrates that if liberal democracy is the end-goal of USAID’s strategy then the theoretical and practical limitations of transition-inspired assistance will impede the attainment of this goal.
In examining US democracy promotion in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq during the Clinton and Bush administrations, the book concludes by considering its future during the Obama administration.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, US Foreign Policy and Democratization Studies.
A video of a panel discussing Matthew Hill's book and associated topics in more detail can be found here: http://www.sas.ac.uk/videos-and-podcasts/politics-development-human-rights/old-wine-new-bottle-democratisation-lessons-af
1. Introduction 2. Setting the Scene: The American Mission, Democratisation and Democratic Peace Theory 3. Motives for American Democracy Promotion 4. Examining USAID in Bosnia and Afghanistan, a ‘Cookie-Cutter Approach’? 5. No Liberal Democracy, just an American Supported Formal Democracy 6. Can Formal Democracy Meet the Objectives of the American Mission? 7. Implications of Research Findings to General US Foreign Policy: The Case of Iraq 8. US Democracy Promotion and the Dawn of the Obama Era
Biography
Matthew Alan Hill is a postdoctoral research fellow in US politics and history at the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK.
"Hill's survey of America's democratisation missions takes the reader on a journey through the horrors of post-conflict states, the cut-and-thrust of policy debate and the ever evolving idea of democracy. As an academic treatise, it will undoubtedly prove a valuable resource to any student or researcher engaged in the field. For the casual reader there is also much to gain, not least a crash-course through democratisation theory and a comprehensive understanding of the current situations in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. If the author's voice occasionally gets lost in the frequent references to commentators and interviewees, it is only because of his determination to fill the work with the greatest range of authoritative opinion. For that, readers should be most thankful." -- Louie Woodall, e-IR
