Democracy Promotion, National Security and Strategy

This book investigates the relationship between democracy promotion and US national security strategy through an examination of the Reagan administration's attempt to launch a global campaign for democracy in the early 1980s, which culminated in the foundation of the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983, and through an analysis of the early political interventions of the Endowment until 1986. A case study of the formation and early operations of the National Endowment for Democracy under the Reagan administration, based on primary documents from both the national security bureaucracy and the private sector, shows that while democracy promotion provided a new tactical approach to the conduct of US political warfare operations, these operations remained tied to the achievement of traditional national security goals such as destabilising enemy regimes and building stable and legitimate friendly governments, rather than being guided by a strategy based on the universal promotion of democracy. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of US Foreign Policy, Democracy Promotion and for those seeking to gain a better understanding of the Reagan Administration.

Robert Pee is an early career researcher whose work focuses on the intersection between democracy promotion and US national security strategy. He graduated from the University of Birmingham with a PhD in American Studies in December 2013.

Introduction, 1. The Roots of Democracy Promotion: From Covert Operations and Modernisation to Party-Building, 2. Democracy and National Security in the early Reagan administration: No Grand Design, 3. Particularist versus Expansive Visions of Democracy Promotion, 4. Democracy Promotion and National Security, 5. Building a Consensus for Democracy Promotion, 6. The Foundation of the National Endowment for Democracy, Promoting Democracy, Conclusion