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An Alliance of Democracies

(Washington Post) Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay - The UN is not up to the task of handling the most pressing security challenges. Its blue-helmeted troops can help keep the peace when warring parties choose not to fight. But they cannot make peace where none exists. We need to build an international order that reflects how states organize themselves internally. The great dividing line is democracy. Democratic states should rally together to pursue their common interests. An Alliance of Democratic States would unite nations with entrenched democratic traditions, such as the U.S. and Canada; the EU countries; Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia; India and Israel. Its purpose would be to strengthen international cooperation to combat terrorism, curtail weapons proliferation, and advance the values of democratic government, respect for human rights, and a market-based economy. This effort offers the only hope of escaping the doomed alternatives of going it alone or pursing a traditional multilateralism in which concern for procedure has long trumped a commitment to effectiveness. Ivo Daalder is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. James Lindsay is vice president and director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
2004-05-24 00:00:00
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