ABSTRACT
A vigorous debate is underway among foreign policy experts and democracy and human rights advocates in the United States on the ends and means of democracy promotion, especially in the Muslim world. It is taking place at a time of growing doubts about the historically bipartisan consensus on the goal of spreading democracy as an important aim of U.S. foreign policy. The debate has intensified due in part to the counterproductive way in which the Bush administration has pursued its “freedom agenda,” principally its decision to invade and occupy Iraq, as well as the alarming results of elections in Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt where parties not friendly to the United States performed well. For some, the U.S. government’s approach has given democracy promotion a bad name and has made it even more difficult, practically speaking, for democratic reformers in the Arab world and elsewhere to work cooperatively with the United States government.
