Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Failing and failed states are a threat to their citizens and to the international community, creating a need for international intervention. In addressing failing states, the international community should concentrate first and foremost on restoring state security.
Demand for practical knowledge and lessons about how the United States and other countries can more effectively promote democracy around the world has never been higher. This timely book by Thomas Carothers, one of the foremost authorities worldwide on democracy-building, helps meet that need.
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has become everything he once crusaded against — racist, despotic, unjust and incompetent. South Africa, the only African nation with significant leverage over Zimbabwe, must pressure Mugabe to reverse the spiral of cronyism and corruption.
The adoption of the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative by the Group of Eight Industrialized Nations (G-8) at their June 8-10 summit in Sea Island, Georgia represents a diplomatic victory for the United States. The initiative, however, is extremely unlikely to have a noticeable impact on political reform in the Middle East.
While enjoying both quantitative and qualitative advantages relative to U.S. efforts, European democracy policies in the Middle East require significant revision if they are to attain the sophisticated holistic gradualism to which they aspire.