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The main reason why democracies have not developed in Central Asia is that the region's leaders don't want them to. However, the region's rulers would like us to believe that the failure of democracy-building in the region is a good thing, not a bad one.
In all democracies around the world, national elections generate important data about the condition of the political system and the concerns, hopes, and beliefs of society.
President Clinton is correct that the decision to grant China permanent most-favored-nation trading status will have a historic significance equal to Richard Nixon's opening to China and Jimmy Carter's normalization of relations. But if that's true, why is the president rushing Congress to make a hasty decision, with almost no time to consider the merits and consequences of this momentous step?
The present danger is that the United States will shrink from its responsibilities as the world's dominant power and--in a fit of absentmindedness, or parsimony or indifference--will allow the international order that it sustains to collapse. The present danger is one of declining strength, flagging will and confusion about our role in the world.
Almost two years after South Asia’s May 1998 nuclear tests, President Clinton is now visiting the region. The Administration established five "benchmarks" after the tests by which to gauge nuclear stability in South Asia. But Washington’s relationships with India and Pakistan suffered in the 1990s, and progress toward these objectives has been disappointing.