Does Democracy Assistance lead to Democracy? (should it?) Posted by Shadi Hamid

As I mentioned in my earlier post about POMED's new budget paper, budgets speak louder than words. But a lot of other things speak louder than budgets, and therein lies a problem that I've been struggling with at a conceptual level. Democracy assistance is only one small component in the foreign policy toolbox. But there is a bigger problem of failing to effectively match means with ends. What is democracy assistance supposed to accomplish exactly and what message are we trying to send to reformers on the ground in the Middle East?

Presumably, at least at an abstract level, the intent of democracy promotion is to promote democracy. Democracy, in nearly all of its definitions, necessitates alternation of power. Alternation of power entails the old order (autocratic regimes, or ruling parties) being replaced by "something else." Many policymakers, including those responsible for appropriating billions of dollars to democracy assistance efforts, aren't necessarily comfortable with this notion, out of fear that Islamist parties would be among those most likely to replace existing ruling parties. So we have the odd situation of people "promoting democracy" without actually accepting the presumed endpoint of such a process. This is why American strategy, in this regard, is a bundle of contradictions, with various polices canceling each other out.

For example, we give tens of millions of dollars to civil society organizations in a country like Egypt and we state that we want Egypt to embark on political reforms. On the other hand, we give 1.3 billion dollars of aid to the Egyptian military; we help train the Egyptian military. We state publicly that the current Egyptian regime is one of our closest friends and allies in the region. So with one hand, we are funding opposition groups (although at a minimal level) and, with the other, we are actively supporting a regime that is, by any definition, thoroughly undemocratic.

In short, it is difficult to devise effective means without knowing, exactly, what the ends are, particularly in a place like the Middle East where appear to have various conflicting and competing goals.

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Democracy assistance no longer consists of consolidating pro-democracy movements through training, capacity building and technical support.