Does Democracy Matter?

Confidence in the future of democracy has been shaken by the authoritarian resurgence of the past decade, and some now argue that it is not realistic for the US to continue to champion democracy abroad. Does Democracy Matter? provides the conclusions of eleven scholars from widely different backgrounds who ask whether and, if so, how the US should support democracy beyond its own borders. The authors agree that American strategic interests are served in the long run by the spread of democracy abroad, but they differ as to how this support meshes with other national security goals. The concluding chapter outlines a system of triage for realistically assessing where and how such assistance can be effective in promoting US security interests.


Contributions by Adrian A. Basora, Sarah Bush, Larry Diamond, Carl Gershman, Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Melinda Haring, Michal Koran, Richard Kraemer, Agnieszka Marczyk, Tsveta Petrova, and Kenneth Yalowitz.

Adrian A. Basora is a former U.S. ambassador to Prague and a Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) senior fellow. He served as the director of FPRI Project on Democratic Transitions, and is currently co-director of FPRI Eurasia Program.

Agnieszka Marczyk is a fellow at FPRI Eurasia Program. She holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from the University of Pennsylvania.

Maia Otarashvili is a Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and manager of its Eurasia Program (previously the Project on Democratic Transitions). She holds an M.A. in Globalization, Development and Transition from the University of Westminster in London, with emphasis on post-authoritarian transitions.