Event Summary
On October 22, Ted Piccone addressed two main issues in global governance: the failure of established international institutions and the promotion of democracy and human rights, and their roles in U.S. foreign policy.
A. Failure of Established International Institutions
The 21st century is marked by scientific and technological innovation, globalization, and interdependency, as well as transnational threats such as terrorism, disease, nuclear proliferation, and climate change. However, global institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations, are not adapting quickly enough to these new realities and are falling behind in fostering a more intense level of international cooperation and addressing these threats. Mr. Piccone traced the root of such a problem to traditional sovereignty, or “zero sum sovereignty,” in which international negotiations are perceived negatively as your gain at my expense.
In the past ten years, traditional sovereignty and the Bush-Cheney unilateral approach have failed to protect American interests and values and have given birth to a strong movement of citizens and non-governmental organizations that strives to ensure the next administration work more multilaterally across a whole range of issues, and the inability of established international organizations has generated demand for complementary mechanisms for cooperation. Mr. Piccone predicted that if the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wins the upcoming election, the United States will turn “more quickly, with more enthusiasm to international institutions to address global problems.” However, he casted his doubt upon the Republican candidate, John McCain’s proposal of the League of Democracies as a complementary mechanism for cooperation and emphasizes that it has generated “absolutely no support” from the United States’ allies because of fear of undermining the United Nations and relations with countries that are critical to solving important global problems. Instead, Mr. Piccone spoke of the Community of Democracies, which as he explains is a much more modest initiative that are different from the League of Democracies. It is about commitment to the democratic path, sharing common experiences, and support for democracies in transition, but not security cooperation.
B. Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights
Another issue in global governance is the promotion of democracy and human rights. With reference to various international documents and declarations, Mr. Piccone defined democracy as,
A system of government based on the rule of law, in which governments are accountable to citizens through periodic elections, through parliaments, through other mechanisms of accountability and transparency; with a set of institutions, independent judiciary, in which citizens can receive some kind of redress if their rights are violated; a basic respect for those rights, an independent media, civilian control of the military.
Democracy has been set out as a goal in terms of international relations and U.N. documents.
A growing number of states from every region of the world have adopted democracy and human rights promotion as an essential element of their foreign policies and their development assistance programs. This is witnessed in bilateral relations as well as in regional organizations, such as the African Union, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Commonwealth and Asean. Internationally, all states adopted a clear statement promising that they would “spare no effort to support the strengthening of democracy and human rights around the world” during the 2000 U.N. millennium summit.
In the United States, there is a longstanding bipartisan consensus that strengthening democracies that abide by the rule of law is in the interest of the United States; therefore promoting democracy and human rights is an unchanged goal of U.S. foreign policy, regardless of the result of the upcoming presidential election. However, there is a serious debate on how to maintain a balance between the promotion of democracy and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. In his speech, Mr. Piccone suggested four ways to do so: first, democracy supporters should take their lead from local groups and individuals, follow local law, and cooperate with the government that seeks assistance. Second, they should provide their support to civil societies in a way that absolutely rejects armed conflict or any suggestion that the goal is regime change outside the law. Third, external actors should avoid a rush to elections. A transitional government of national unity is often the best way to build national consensus and to establish basic institutions of government before beginning the process of competitive elections. Fourth, an independent media is a very important part of the democracy toolkit and training professional and ethical journalists is essential.
In closing, Mr. Piccone emphasized that democracy is one of the projects that is never finished and expresses his optimism about its future. He then drew the bottom-line that democracy can take many different forms, but under the condition that it meets the fundamental principles of human rights set forth in international law.