ABSTRACT
The implications that autocracy promotion mean for democracy support policy-making are ultimately a matter for the policy-makers. Autocracy promotion does not have the good offices of the United Nations on its side. The principle of distinguishing autocracy promotion and export from other factors also extends to examples of what Burnell called anti-assistance. The strength of the ideological challenge that democracy now faces from autocratic socialization through diffusion in this and other ways is in any case up for debate. Islamism, for instance, is not a homogenous set of beliefs uniformly hostile to democracy. In fact, mainstream social science in the West is still divided over the causal connections between type of political regime and economic growth, in particular over how the dynamics of democratization and developmental performance interact. Rigorous investigation is now needed if democracy promotion is to know what it is up against and formulate an appropriate response.
