POLS 3320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Election Monitoring, Liberal Democracy, Counter-Insurgency

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3320
• Professor: Craig Johnson

Document Summary

Do donors want to promote democracy: geopolitical interests compete with commercial interests. It is unclear what is the goal or what is being pursued. Liberal democratic transition: established liberal democracies arose out of particular historical bargains struck between ruling classes in western europe and north america and their taxpayers and citizens over the course of more than two centuries, very domestic. Transitions from authoritarian rule: debt crisis and the end of the cold war weakened traditional military bureaucratic elites, large social movements delegitimized the authority to rule rooted in domestic political changes. Externally imposed: conditionally, economic sanctions, negotiated settlements used to force elections and respect for basic human rights, little or no structural transformation or economic empowerment which leads to political empowerment, external intervention to make countries more democratic. Us aid to vietnam 1950s-75: military, counter-insurgency, no land reform as the way to fight the communist insurgency in the region, not very successful militarily or humanitarian wise.