‘Exporting’ Democracy? Or Applying the Law of the Jungle In International Relations?

Europe, like the USA, assumed that a market-driven and neoliberal western-style world was desirable, but many countries see things differently. Wishful thinking and ignorance still prevail among western politicians, leading to naïve hopes. Western views are not universally valid, and this liberal way of thinking divides countries in an imperialist manner into ‘good’ democratic and ‘bad’ autocratic ones and thus creates defensive reactions, says Carlo Masala, Professor, International Politics at the Bundeswehr University, Munich. Attempts to improve the world according to western moral standards have thus contributed decisively to disorder. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the export of democracy has failed disastrously, as the social and institutional basis in these countries was lacking. Democracy cannot be established without the involvement of the population and the elites and without a strong allied neighbor, says the author.