How the West has aided democracy’s decline

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2017

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

According to Presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, the United States is a shining “city upon a hill." It’s a beacon of democracy in a dark world full of cruel dictators and vicious despots. But history shows the United States has also been willing to side with despots in the name of stability. This week on War College, we talk to Brian Klaas, a Oxford University graduate and expert on political violence, about his new book – The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy. According to Klaas, powerful countries should stop forcing democracy down the throats of their less stable counterparts and avoid settling for despots to achieve stability. He makes the case for co-opting the rank-and-file of old regimes into new ones to prevent state collapse, and for using measured military force and foreign aid money to coax tyrants out of power. Plus, he explores “counterfeit democracies,” and a new city upon a hill in West Africa: The Gambia.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast.
0:02.0	Support this show through the A-Cast supporter feature.
0:05.0	It's up to you how much you give,
0:07.0	and there's no regular commitment.
0:09.0	Just click the link in the show description to support now.
0:13.0	The views expressed on this podcast are those of the participants, not of Reuters News.
0:20.0	I'm not advocating an ideal solution just about ever. I'm advocating the least bad option. On this week's war college, the tricky business of regime change, so-called
0:39.3	counterfeit democracies, and reviewing the United States track record in siding with
0:45.9	dictators.
0:48.9	You're listening to Reuters War College, a discussion of the world in conflict, focusing
0:58.2	on the stories behind the front lines. Welcome to War College. I am your host Matthew Galt. With us today is Brian Kloss, an Oxford University
1:15.4	graduate, an expert on political violence, and a fellow at the London School of Economics.
1:20.1	He's worked in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and even consulted on U.S. political campaigns.
1:25.3	He's the author of the forthcoming book, The Despets Accomplice,
1:28.3	How the West is aiding and abetting the decline of democracy.
1:31.9	Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having
1:34.6	me on the podcast. So that's a weighty title. Can you break it down for us? Can you give
1:38.6	us the thesis? Sure, so democracy around the globe has been declining ever since 2006 and that means that we may have already hit the high watermark of democracy or as I call it, peak democracy.
1:51.0	And even though the real villains in this battle are obviously despots, dictators,
1:57.0	and what I call counterfeit Democrats, people who pretend to be Democratic but are not,
2:01.0	I also point the finger back at the West itself and say that
2:04.4	there is an enabling factor of Western foreign policy that makes it easier for those
	...

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