in the media

A League of Their Own, July, 1, 2008

Foreign-policy heavyweights on both the left and the right are calling for a new League of Democracies. One day, they say, it could replace the United Nations. But such a plan rests on the false assumption that democracies inherently work well together—or that anyone besides the United States thinks it’s a good idea.

published by
Foreign Policy
 on July 1, 2008

Source: Foreign Policy

New ideas are rare in international politics. The actions of countries on the world stage often seem like endless replays of ancient laws on power and conflict that are impervious to fresh insights and initiatives. And nowhere is the lack of new thinking more acute than in the realm of international institutions, where a set of multilateral organizations established in the wake of World War II still dominates.

Today, however, a big new idea for a new international institution has bubbled to the surface. It is the idea that the next U.S. president should seek to establish a “League of Democracies” (or “Concert of Democracies,” as it is sometimes called). The league would be a free-standing organization separate from—and perhaps one day even replacing—the United Nations.

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