
The Taming of Democracy Assistance: Why Democracy Promotion Does Not Confront Dictators
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 11/3/2016
EAN 9781107642201, ISBN10: 1107642205
Paperback, 288 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
Language: English
Few government programs that aid democracy abroad today seek to foster regime change. Technical programs that do not confront dictators are more common than the aid to dissidents and political parties that once dominated the field. What explains this 'taming' of democracy assistance? This book offers the first analysis of that puzzle. In contrast to previous research on democracy aid, it focuses on the survival instincts of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that design and implement democracy assistance. To survive, Sarah Bush argues that NGOs seek out tamer types of aid, especially as they become more professional. Diverse evidence - including three decades of new project-level data, case studies of democracy assistance in Jordan and Tunisia, and primary documents gathered from NGO archives - supports the argument. This book provides new understanding of foreign influence and moral actors in world politics, with policy implications for democracy in the Middle East.
Part I. Introduction and Argument
1. Introduction
2. The argument
structure, agency, and democracy promotion
3. Tame democracy assistance
what it is and why it matters
Part II. Testing the Argument
4. Delegation and the allocation of democracy assistance
5. Changes in American grant-making
6. Creating the democracy establishment
7. Jordan
aid in the shadow of geopolitics
8. Tunisia
reform after revolution
Part III. Conclusions
9. Should democracy promoters be set free?
Part IV. Appendices and References
A. Descriptions of categories of democracy assistance
B. List of interviewee affiliations
C. Major organizations in the democracy establishment
D. Data appendix.