ABSTRACT
Democracy promotion has surfaced as a foreign policy objective of some states, and defining ‘democracy’ has been a central preoccupation of political theorists for many years. Issues relating to the nature of choice and participation, to the role of representation in ‘democratic’ systems, and to the institutional architecture of a democratic order have all generated extensive literatures. This chapter identifies some of the challenges of governance which prolonged and debilitating conflict tends to produce. It discusses the circumstances surrounding the attempts to foster democratic processes in Namibia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The chapter explores some implications for multilateral action, of which the most important is that the circumstances required for democratic governance to take root are exacting, and that direct international intervention is rarely an effective instrument for bringing this about. The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) mission was successful in resolving a ‘regional problem’, but as an exercise in democratisation, it was a failure.
