ICYMI: How the West Has Aided Democracy’s Decline

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2018

⏱️ 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 option to support now.
0:20.0	I'm not advocating an ideal solution just about ever. I'm advocating the least bad option. You're listening to war college, a weekly podcast that brings you the stories from behind the front
0:36.0	lines.
0:37.0	Here are your hosts, Matthew Galt, between Cambridge. Hello listeners,
0:52.6	it's I your humble host Matthew Galt, between Cambridge Analytica,
0:55.8	the re-election of Vladimir Putin and the harsh pushback against Facebook
0:59.2	these past few weeks.
1:00.5	Jason, I thought it might be a good time to revisit an old episode from February of last year.
1:05.0	It's an interview I did with Brian Kloss, a fellow at the London School of Economics, and the author of the Despits
1:09.6	Accomplice, how the West is aiding and abetting the decline of democracy.
1:13.0	When I spoke with him a year ago, his book wasn't out in America yet.
1:16.0	It is now.
1:17.0	And since this conversation, he's been all over the late night cable circuit.
1:21.0	But we had him first, and now is a really good time to reconsider
1:25.2	all the things that he told us back then. Brian, thank you so much for joining us.
1:31.3	Thanks for having me on the podcast.
1:34.0	So that's a weighty title.
1:35.0	Can you break it down for us?
	...

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