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| Author: | Alexandra Silver |
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March 17, 2006
Democracy-promotion has long been an aspect of U.S. foreign policy, but it became a central component after September 11. The U.S. government has several channels for promoting democracy, most notably the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI); and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which provides funds to nations that already meet certain democratic standards. But a plethora of U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also exist for this purpose, with varying degrees of financial dependency on the government. In recent years, their budgets have increased dramatically. Their activities include election-monitoring, educating citizens about their rights, and working with legislators, judges, and the media.
NGOs "think differently and have a different perspective and different analysis from the State Department," says Thomas O. Melia, deputy executive director of Freedom House and author of the report, "The Democracy Bureaucracy: The Infrastructure of American Democracy Promotion." While their work often overlaps, the organizations offer different methods and programs around the world, and Melia suggests pluralism in this field is helpful.
However, the majority of these institutes receive funding from the U.S. government, and Justin Logan, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, is skeptical of their role. Logan does not subscribe to democracy-promotion as a foreign policy goal, arguing it is essentially regime change. Private institutes like financier George Soros' Open Society Institute may be able to make progress toward opening some societies, but Logan says the government—even if it's achieving its aims by supporting NGOs—should not be involved. Some argue NGOs can hinder and even work against U.S. interests. Recently, the New York Times accused the International Republican Institute (IRI) of undermining U.S. government policy in Haiti by siding with the opposition to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The organization quickly refuted these claims, but the episode illustrates how independent organizations can sometimes find themselves at cross purposes with U.S. policy.
Most of the organizations are very sensitive about being associated with any political party, and all claim to be neutral. "It's a misreading of these groups to think of them in a partisan way, for most intents and purposes," says Melia. He notes, however, "We can't be value-neutral in promoting democracy."
NED, the biggest American NGO focused on democracy-promotion, distributes equal amounts of funds to four affiliated institutes: the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Center for Independent Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity ("Solidarity Center"). CIPE and the Solidarity Center are meant to balance the interests of business with those of labor.
Despite their names, NDI and IRI are not technically affiliated with either political party for legal and financial reasons. Originally, the chairs of the Democratic and Republican National Committees also chaired the institutes, but this practice ended due to concern public funds would be misused. The organizations' neutrality is a necessary condition for funding from Washington. However, the board of directors of each group is stacked with prominent members of their respective parties. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) chairs IRI, while former Clinton administration Secretary of State Madeleine Albright leads NDI.
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