Advancing Democratic Principles: A European Examines a Neglected American Asset. Ethics and Public Policy Essay 49.

Autor/in	Haseler, Stephen
Institution	Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC.
Titel	Advancing Democratic Principles: A European Examines a Neglected American Asset. Ethics and Public Policy Essay 49.
Quelle	(1983), (15 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
ISBN	0-89633-076-1
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Capitalism; Democratic Values; Foreign Countries; Foreign Policy; Ideology; International Relations; Political Attitudes; Social Systems; Socialism; United States; USSR + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kapitalismus; Ausland; Außenpolitik; Ideologie; Internationale Beziehungen; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Social system; Soziales System; Sozialismus; USA
Abstract	According to this essay by a visiting scholar from Great Britain, there will always be a debate in democratic societies, about the proper role of morality in fashioning and articulating foreign policy. This ambivalence has been reflected in the uneven approach to the problem exhibited by successive United States administrations. There are two overriding reasons why it is vitally important for the current U.S. administration to persevere with the idea of projecting values as well as power. The first reason has to do with the domestic problems that the Western nations have in constructing a viable world strategy. Publics within Western democracies are less and less content to leave foreign policy to the expertise and whims of established elites. This is why it is necessary to develop a rationale for United States and Western involvement in the world that does not rest exclusively upon determinations of "interest." More likely to gain approval is a policy with a rationale expressed in terms of democratic values and systems on one side and totalitarian values and systems on the other. The second major reason for projecting democratic values is the continuing allure of the idea of democracy in the modern world. The democratic idea and aspiration is still the most precious asset of the West in its adversarial relationship with the Soviet bloc. The battle for hearts and minds can be seen in its most acute and sophisticated form in Western Europe where the focus of debate between East and West is the "peace" issue. The other propaganda area in which the East does surprisingly well is the matter of "economic justice." Among key elites throughout the world there is still a visceral commitment to the view that socialist societies are somehow more just than capitalist societies in distributing goods and services. To counter this, Western propaganda should concentrate its power at its strongest point: its democratic, open society and its political freedoms. (BZ)
Anmerkungen	Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1030 Fifteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005 ($1.00).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC