The Power Politics Behind Deciding Who's a Democracy
WASHINGTON — A decade after the end of the Cold War, the world's democracies are planning a big bash in Europe. But this spring fling convened by the United States, the old boy, and Poland, the new kid on the block, is looking less and less like a celebration, and more and more like the familiar diplomatic conclave it was destined to be. With at least 100 foreign ministers set to roam the halls in Warsaw next week, sweet odes to democracy will surely include a few verses of self-justification sung to the dark melody of power politics.
When democracy is in the air, things can get complicated. The Warsaw attendance list offers an important lesson in splitting hermeneutical hairs. Clearly, the invitation committee was burdened by what literary critics call over-interpretation and politicians call pragmatism. Iran is out--overriding U.S. interests, despite recent political reforms--and Russia is in--overriding European interests, despite political decay. The old generation of once-upon-a-time populists has overstayed its welcome: Zimbabwe can't come because President Robert Mugabe stole land, and Peru's President Alberto Fujimori may have to relinquish his invite because he stole an election. Should Persian Gulf sheikdoms, with mock parliaments, be invited? How about Kuwait, where women can't vote? Or transitional states--Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, for instance--that mimic democratic ritual but ignore its substance?
Mixing the imperatives of idealism with many categories of realism isn't easy: The Warsaw agenda is a carefully honed effort to reinforce democracy among states that thought ideology died when the Berlin Wall fell. Not a bad thing--there are worse organizing principles for politics than those dedicated to the rule of law and popular participation. But with due deference to Poland, this is a U.S. show, about building U.S. alliances. It's a chance to anchor North Atlantic Treaty Organization expansion with political values; bypass the European Union's imminent enlargement as former communist states join its fold; and drape rare moments of Third World political hope in the cloth of mercantile advantage. And, critically, it's about crafting a diplomatic legacy for the Clinton administration before it uses up all its time.
