President Bush Criticizes Russia and China at the Democracy and Security Conference in Prague
By Daniel Hollingsworth
June 5, 2007 | Printer Friendly

The Washington Post reports that U.S. President George W. Bush spoke in support of democracy at the Democracy and Security Conference in Prague on June 5, praising the post-Cold War transitions of Central and Eastern European countries as examples of the “triumph of freedom in the battle of ideas.”  Bush also praised the courage of dissidents in repressive countries, calling “the dissidents of today the democratic leaders of tomorrow.”  He recognized several who could not attend the conference because of their imprisonment:

“I look forward to the day when conferences like this one include Alexander Kozulin of Belarus -- Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma -- Oscar Elias Biscet of Cuba -- Father Nguyen Van Ly of Vietnam -- and Ayman Nour of Egypt. The daughter of one of these political prisoners is in this room. And to all their families: I thank you for your courage. I pray for your comfort and strength. And I call for the immediate and unconditional release of your loved ones.”

President Bush compared the current threat of Islamic extremism to the Soviet threat of the Cold War, calling both conflicts “ideological struggle[s] between two fundamentally different visions of humanity.”  Despite the challenges facing democracy in the world, Bush cited reasons for optimism.  He noted the expansion of democratic countries from 45 in the 1980s to over 120 today.  He argued that free, democratic countries have the responsibility to support others who are struggling to establish free societies.  He specifically identified Russia and China as countries that have fallen short in their commitments to democratic values:

“In the areas where we share mutual interests, we work together. In other areas, we have strong disagreements. For example, China's leaders believe that they can continue to open the nation's economy without also opening its political system. In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development. Part of a good relationship is the ability to talk openly about our disagreements. So the United States will continue to build our relationships with these countries -- and we will do it without abandoning our principles or our values.”

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a panel discussion held the day before the president’s speech took a less optimistic position.  While maintaining that democracy in Iraq is still a possibility, Iraqi professor Kanan Makiya argued against the use of post-war Japan and Germany as analogies for contemporary cases of democratization:

“We had what was quite correctly called a war of liberation, but it was fitted onto the rhetoric language of occupation.  And liberation and occupation do not mix well, and they were very difficult to explain and to justify. So there are other ways in which we should reexamine those kinds of analogies. But I wish to end, so it is not to be seriously misunderstood, that nothing I said now implies that the democratization is not possible in Iraq -- quite the contrary; but some of the conclusions I would come to is...[that] one does need to study the situation in the country beforehand.”

Bruce Jackson, president of the Project on Transitional Democracies, also cautioned against the use of historical analogies, this time differentiating between the post-communist transition of Central Europe and the current challenges facing Eastern Europe and central Asia.  He argued for a more specific consideration of the conditions in the countries facing the challenges of democratic transition, rejecting the “historical determinism” that expects transitions to move steadily and without regression.

USA Today reports that former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, host of the conference, and whose book The Case for Democracy has reportedly been a major influence on Bush’s thinking, said that Iraq demonstrates that democracy is about more than elections.  He disagreed with the Bush administration’s focus on elections and the lack of attention given to civil society and other democratic institutions, such as a fair judicial system.  Sharansky said that democracy is “the rule of the majority, plus the civil rights of individuals."

References:

Washington Post: President Bush Delivers Remarks in Prague

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Democracy and Security Conference Opens in Prague

USA Today: Sharansky on Iraq: Democracy more than elections