Democracy's Triumph: Advantages and Drawbacks

Michael Mandelbaum, Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy, The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

In 1900, only ten countries could be counted as democracies. By 1975 there were thirty. Today, 119 of the world’s 190 countries have adopted democracy, and it is by far the most celebrated and prestigious form of government. In Democracy’s Good Name, Michael Mandelbaum, one of America’s leading foreign policy thinkers, explores the reasons for democracy’s extraordinary surge in the twentieth century. Mandelbaum delves into many pressing questions: How did democracy acquire its good name? Why do important countries remain undemocratic? What accounts for the fact that the introduction of one of democracy’s defining features – free elections – has sometimes led to political repression and large-scale bloodshed? Why do efforts to export democracy so often fail and even make conditions worse? Mandelbaum will also share with the Council his assessment of establishing democracy in Russia, China, and the Arab world and why the US has found it so difficult to foster democratic governments in other countries.