Abstract
This chapter explores the interconnections between the rise of political aid programs to strengthen foreign political parties and civil society groups, the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Reagan administration’s Cold War strategy. While the Reagan administration initially favoured a Cold War democracy crusade to combat Communism through a ‘war of ideas,’ US private groups and Congress drove the development of the NED as a global democracy foundation. Cooperation between the US state and the Endowment developed in Communist and non-communist countries where democracy promotion could aid the administration’s containment strategy, such as Poland, the Philippines and Chile. After the Cold War, the NED’s global approach to democratic development was institutionalized within the US state under the Clinton and Bush administrations.
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Notes
- 1.
See Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, ‘Foreign Political Aid: the German Political Foundations and their US Counterparts,’ International Affairs 67, no. 1 (1991): 33.
- 2.
See Hal Brands, Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order (Ithaca NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2016), Henry Nau, ‘Ronald Reagan’ in US Foreign Policy and Democracy Promotion from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama, eds. Michael Cox, Timothy J. Lynch and Nicolas Bouchet (Abingdon, Oxon, and New York: Routledge, 2013), 138–58, and Tony Smith, America’s Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for Democracy, expanded ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
- 3.
See Mark Lagon, ‘The International System and the Reagan Doctrine: Can Realism Explain Aid to Freedom Fighters?’ British Journal of Political Science 22, no. 1 (1992): 39–70 and James M. Scott, Deciding to Intervene: The Reagan Doctrine and American Foreign Policy (Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 1996).
- 4.
See Thomas Carothers, Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1999); Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway (eds.), Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2000); and Larry Jay Diamond, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World (New York: Times Books, 2008).
- 5.
Beth A. Fischer, The Reagan Reversal: Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1997), 20 and Brands, Making the Unipolar Moment, 71.
- 6.
Raymond A. Garthoff, The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1994), 14, 19, and Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 332–4.
- 7.
Robert M. Gates, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War (New York: Touchstone, Simon and Schuster, 1996), 194–5 and John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War Revised and Expanded Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 351–2.
- 8.
Thomas G. Mahnken, ‘The Reagan Administration’s strategy toward the Soviet Union,’ in Successful Strategies: Triumphing in War and Peace from Antiquity to the Present, eds. Murray Williamson and Richard Hart Sinnreich (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 408.
- 9.
Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, 352–3.
- 10.
Brands, Making the Unipolar Moment, 79.
- 11.
Gaddis, 352–3.
- 12.
Nicholas J. Cull, The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 407.
- 13.
Elizabeth Cohn, ‘Idealpolitik in US Foreign Policy: The Reagan Administration and the US Promotion of Democracy’ (PhD diss., The American University, Washington DC, 1995), 160.
- 14.
Arthur Rachwald, In Search of Poland: The Superpowers’ Response to Solidarity, 1980–1989 (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1990), 49.
- 15.
Gates, From the Shadows, 232–7.
- 16.
Ronald Reagan, An American Life (London, Sydney, Auckland, and Johannesburg: Hutchinson, 1990), 301–2.
- 17.
Tamar Jacoby, ‘The Reagan Turnaround on Human Rights,’ Foreign Affairs 64, no. 5 (1986): 1067–9.
- 18.
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, ‘Dictatorships and Double Standards,’ Commentary 68, no. 5 (1979): 35–6.
- 19.
Kirkpatrick, Dictatorships, 44–5, 37.
- 20.
William M. LeoGrande, Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992 (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 89, 93.
- 21.
LeoGrande, Our Own Backyard, 120–6.
- 22.
David F. Schmitz, The United States and Right-wing Dictatorships, 1965–1989 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 209.
- 23.
LeoGrande, Our Own Backyard, 117–8.
- 24.
Thomas O. Enders, ‘El Salvador: The Search for Peace,’ State Department Bulletin 81, no. 2054 (1981): 71.
- 25.
Reagan, An American Life, 303; Peter Schweizer, Victory: the Reagan Administration’s Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1994), 68–9.
- 26.
Robert Pee, Democracy Promotion, National Security and Strategy: Foreign Policy under the Reagan Administration (Abingdon, Oxon, and New York: Routledge, 2016): 20–3, 26–8, 30–2.
- 27.
Michael A. Samuels and William A. Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ The Washington Quarterly 4, no. 3 (1981): 52, 60–1.
- 28.
Samuels and Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ 64.
- 29.
William A. Douglas, Developing Democracy (Washington DC: Heldref Publications, 1972), 131.
- 30.
Douglas, Developing Democracy, 131.
- 31.
Samuels and Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ 60–2.
- 32.
See Laura A. Belmonte, Selling the American Way: U.S. Propaganda and the Cold War (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 95 and Cull, The United States Information Agency, xv.
- 33.
See Stephen Kinzer, Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq (New York: Times Books, 2006), 111–48, 170–95.
- 34.
See James Callanan, Covert Action in the Cold War: US Policy, Intelligence and CIA Operations. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2010), 24–46 and Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 116–21.
- 35.
Samuels and Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ 54.
- 36.
Samuels and Douglas, 54–5.
- 37.
Douglas, Developing Democracy, 157–8; Samuels and Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ 61–2.
- 38.
Samuels and Douglas, ‘Promoting Democracy,’ 63–4.
- 39.
Douglas, Developing Democracy, 164–5.
- 40.
Douglas, 157, 163.
- 41.
Memo, Alexander Haig Jr to the President, ‘Strategy for Building Democracy in Communist and Non-communist Countries,’ March 8, 1982, Department of State, US Declassified Documents Online. http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/5DqFw7.
- 42.
Memo, William Clark to Alexander Haig Jr, ‘Strategy for Building Democracy in Communist and Non-communist Countries.’ April 2, 1982, Box OA 90304, Folder 11 (5), Robert Kimmitt Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (RRPL), Simi Valley, CA.
- 43.
Memo, Norman A. Bailey to William Clark, ‘Strategy for Building Democracy in Communist and Non-communist Countries,’ April 14, 1982, Box OA 90304, Folder 11 (5), Robert Kimmitt Files, RRPL and Dennis C. Blair, ‘Strategy for Building Democracy in Communist and Non-communist Countries,’ April 19, 1982, Box OA 90304, Folder 11 (5), Robert Kimmitt Files, RRPL.
- 44.
Memo, William Clark to the President, ‘Political Action,’ May 12, 1982, Box OA 90304, Folder 11 (5), Robert Kimmitt Files, RRPL.
- 45.
Ronald Reagan, ‘Promoting Democracy and Peace,’ Address to the British Parliament, June 8, 1982, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1982/60882a.htm.
- 46.
For further information on the Campaign of Truth and other 1950s public diplomacy programs, see Shawn J. Parry-Giles, The Rhetorical Presidency, Propaganda and the Cold War, 1945–1955 (Westport, CT, and London: Praeger, 2002).
- 47.
‘Introduction to Program Book: Political Action,’ n.d., 1982, Box OA91162, Folder 09/82–10/82, Walter Raymond Files, RRPL.
- 48.
‘Program Book: Project Democracy,’ n.d. Box 1, Folder 6: Reports and Proposals, George E. Agree Papers, Library of Congress, Washington DC, 25.
- 49.
Government Accountability Office, ‘Events leading to the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy’, GAO/NSIAD-84–121, July 6, 1984, US Government Accountability Office Electronic Records Archive, http://archive.gao.gov/d6t1/124606.pdf, 6–7.
- 50.
See White House, ‘NSDD-77: Management of Public Diplomacy Relative to National Security,’ January 14, 1983, National Security Decision Directives, Reagan Administration, Federation of American Scientists, www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-077.htm
- 51.
United States Information Agency, ‘Testimony of Secretary of State George Shultz before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International organizations on February 23, 1983’, Boxes 90,301, Project Democracy: Folder 2, Robert Kimmitt Files, RRPL, 1.
- 52.
Bernard Gwertzman, ‘Skeptics pelt Shultz with Queries on Reagan’s ‘Project Democracy’,’ New York Times, February 23, 1983, Nexis UK, www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
- 53.
Stephen J. Solarz, ‘Crucial Interests in Asia,’ New York Times, October 6, 1983, Nexis UK, www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
- 54.
Patrick E. Tyler, ‘USIA Chief Questioned On ‘Project Democracy’,’ Washington Post, March 3, 1983, Nexis UK, www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis.
- 55.
The Democracy Program, ‘The Commitment to Democracy: A Bipartisan Approach,’ 1983, National Endowment for Democracy: Key NED Documents, http://ned.org/docs/democracyProgram.pdf, 9.
- 56.
The Democracy Program, ‘The Commitment to Democracy’, 10–3.
- 57.
The Democracy Program, 24.
- 58.
The Democracy Program, 25–6.
- 59.
Thomas Carothers, In the Name of Democracy: US Policy toward Latin America in the Reagan Years (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991), 205.
- 60.
White House, ‘NSDD-238: Basic National Security Strategy,’ September 2, 1986, National Security Decision Directives, Reagan Administration, Federation of American Scientists, https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-238.pdf, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14.
- 61.
See National Endowment for Democracy. Annual Report 1985, NED Annual Reports, 1984–2004, www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreports/1985-ned-annual-report.pdf, 14–5; National Endowment for Democracy, Annual Report 1986, NED Annual Reports, 1984–2004. www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreports/1986-ned-annual-report.pdf, 10–3; and National Endowment for Democracy, Annual Report 1987, NED Annual Reports, 1984–2004, www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreports/1987-ned-annual-report.pdf, 26.
- 62.
See Gregory Corning, ‘The Philippine Bases and US Pacific Strategy,’ Pacific Affairs 63, no. 1 (1990): 6–23, for the strategic importance of US bases in the Philippines.
- 63.
The breakdown of NED funding for political aid programs is shown in the table below. All figures are derived from the NED’s annual reports to Congress for 1986–1987, referenced above, and from National Endowment for Democracy, Annual Report 1988, NED Annual Reports, 1984–2004, www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreports/1988-ned-annual-report.pdf.
1986 Annual report
Africa
South Africa
Europe
Poland
Asia
The Philippines
Latin America
Chile
$1,188,702
$386,586
$2,564,717
$934,763
$3,164,750
$911,829
$5,576,314
$682,447
1987 Annual report
Africa
South Africa
Europe
Poland
Asia
The Philippines
Latin America
Chile
$1,265,200
$605,100
$2,508,767
$1,920,750
$1,967,886
$750,223
$4,686,568
$629,822
1988
Annual report
Africa
South Africa
Europe
Poland
Asia
The Philippines
Latin America
Chile
$1,571,167
$514,000
$3,538,830
$1,707,500
$1,866,571
$600,000
$6,843,335
$553,765 + USAID grant of $1,000,000
- 64.
Rainer Thiel, Nested Games of External Democracy Promotion: The United States and the Polish Liberalization 1980–1989 (Germany: Vs Verlag Fur Sozialwissenschaften, 2010), 198–9.
- 65.
Thiel, Nested Games, 226–7.
- 66.
Robert Pee, Democracy Promotion, National Security and Strategy: Foreign Policy under the Reagan Administration (Abingdon, Oxon, and New York: Routledge, 2016), 172–3, 175–6.
- 67.
Pee, Democracy Promotion, 175.
- 68.
Stanley Karnow, In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines (New York: Random House, 1989), 411–23.
- 69.
Morris Morley and Chris McGillion, Reagan and Pinochet: The Struggle over US Policy toward Chile (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).
- 70.
Victor Figueroa Clark, ‘The Forgotten History of the Chilean Transition: Armed Resistance against Pinochet and US Policy towards Chile in the 1980s,’ Journal of Latin American Studies 47, no. 3 (2015): 492–6, 513–4.
- 71.
Director of Central Intelligence, ‘Chile: Prospects for Democratic Transition,’ August 1, 1987, US Department of State Chile Declassification Project, document 00009281, and Director of Central Intelligence, ‘Soviet and Cuban Support for Chilean Opposition,’ September 1, 1987, US Department of State Chile Declassification Project, document 00009287.
- 72.
National Endowment for Democracy, Annual Report 1985, 13–4.
- 73.
‘US Policy Toward Chile: Strategy for 1987,’ n.d., US State Department Chile Declassification Project, document 199900030.
- 74.
William I Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention and Hegemony (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 183–5 and Paul E. Sigmund, The United States and Democracy in Chile (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1993), 169–75.
- 75.
NED, Annual Report 1985, 5.
- 76.
For an overview of the US government’s involvement in democracy promotion programs, including political aid, as of 2005, see Thomas O. Melia, ‘The Democracy Bureaucracy: The Infrastructure of American Democracy Promotion’, 2005, Princeton Project on National Security, http://www.princeton.edu/~ppns/papers/democracy_bureaucracy.pdf. There has been little institutional change since.
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Pee, R. (2019). The Rise of Political Aid: The National Endowment for Democracy and the Reagan Administration’s Cold War Strategy. In: Pee, R., Schmidli, W. (eds) The Reagan Administration, the Cold War, and the Transition to Democracy Promotion. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96382-2_3
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