Washington Post Op-Ed: Concert of Democracies Could Provide Legitimacy for Intervention
By Daniel Hollingsworth
August 21, 2007 | Printer Friendly

In an op-ed in the August 6 Washington Post, Ivo Daalder and Robert Kagan write that despite public discontent over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American foreign policy will continue to reserve and at times exercise the use of force “on behalf of principles and tangible interests.”  Rather than debating whether this policy option will be preserved, Daalder and Kagan argue that greater attention must be given to international legitimacy.  Calling the United Nations Security Council insufficient for taking decisive action on the determination of the legitimate use of force, they instead propose that “a policy of seeking consensus among the world's great democratic nations can form the basis for a new domestic consensus on the use of force,” with the eventual goal of creating a formal Concert of Democracies to this end.  N.B.: CCD notes that while the authors treat a Concert of Democracies as an undeveloped entity, the existing Community of Democracies already provides such a forum through which this process could be advanced.

Daalder and Kagan note that the policy of intervention is not a new development: “Between 1989 and 2001, Americans intervened with significant military force on eight occasions -- once every 18 months. This interventionism has been bipartisan -- four interventions were launched by Republican administrations, four by Democratic administrations.”  They argue that since 9/11, threats have emerged that may require action “to respond to terrorist threats, to curb weapons proliferation, to prevent genocide or other human rights violations, or to respond to more traditional forms of aggression.”  Responding effectively to these threats, however, requires that the United States reestablish grounds for the legitimate use of force, which the authors call “one of the casualties of the Iraq war.”

According to Daalder and Kagan, cooperation between the democracies of the world is the best way to establish the legitimate use of force.  “Because they share a common view of what constitutes a just order within states, they tend to agree on when the international community has an obligation to intervene. Shared principles provide the foundation for legitimacy.”  Daalder and Kagan argue that the UN Security Council can still be included as part of the discussion, and they preserve the right of the United States to act apart from its democratic partners if necessary, “But the United States will be on stronger ground to launch and sustain interventions when it makes every effort to seek and win the approval of the democratic world.”

They conclude that a formal Concert of Democracies could be an effective mechanism for developing such a conversation.  Until such a structure is formed, “future presidents need to recognize that legitimacy matters, and that the most meaningful and potent form of legitimacy for a democracy such as the United States is the kind bestowed by fellow democrats around the world.”

Reference:

Washington Post: The Next Intervention