Bush's "Freedom Stagnation"
Posted by Max Bergmann
In his final State of the Union, Bush weakly tries to resurrect his freedom agenda:
Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace. In the last 7 years, we have witnessed stirring moments in the history of liberty. We have seen citizens in Georgia and Ukraine stand up for their right to free and fair elections. We have seen people in Lebanon take to the streets to demand their independence. We have seen Afghans emerge from the tyranny of the Taliban to choose a new president and a new parliament. We have seen jubilant Iraqis holding up ink-stained fingers and celebrating their freedom.
Yet the President’s “freedom agenda” is failing. According to the latest “2007 Freedom in the World Survey” from Freedom House democracy and freedom are sliding backwards (pdf) throughout the world:
the emergence of a series of worrisome trends that together present potentially serious threats to the stability of new democracies as well as obstacles to political reform in societies under authoritarian rule… The percentage of countries designated as Free has failed to increase for nearly a decade...these trends may be contributing to a developing ‘freedom stagnation.’
His examples also don't support his case.
- Lebanon has not had a President for two months and many were killed in sectarian fighting.
- There were fears this past December that Georgia was sliding toward authoritarianism.
- In Ukraine the "Orange Coalition" has struggled to maintain its coalition since 2005 due to Russian pressure.
- Afghanistan has seen the ressurgence of the Taliban, which has undermined Karzai and coalition efforts.
- And Iraq, well, the Iraqi government sort of speaks for itself.
Huntington's 'Third Wave' ebbs as expected.
I wish it could be blamed on a backlash against Bush's policies, but that seems a redundant hypothesis.
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