Concert of democracies

Although the Democrats loathe President Bush’s foreign policy, they agree with him on one important issue — the promotion of democracy abroad. It was Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, who launched the Community of Democracies in the year 2000. Bush, in turn, launched the United Nations Democracy Fund and wanted to inject democracy into the Middle East.

Both McCain and Obama now speak to the same theme in different ways. McCain wants to build a powerful new global ‘league of democracies’. Obama’s foreign policy team has the same idea, but their preferred term is ‘concert of democracies’.

Underlying both is the notion that major democracies must get together to manage the world. Both camps recognise the importance of expanding this league/concert beyond the traditional transatlantic structures of NATO. Both want to draw in Asian democracies like Japan, India and Australia.

Sceptics, however, suggest that grand projects like these rarely survive the heat of policy-making. Most administrations, both Republican and Democratic, end up with pro forma initiatives on democracy promotion.

Calling India lobby

Whether we like it or not, India might soon be sucked into American electoral politics. This involvement will not be about choosing one candidate over the other, but mobilising both Democrats and Republicans to facilitate an early implementation of the nuclear deal.

If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s hopes for a quick endorsement of the civil nuclear initiative by the IAEA and the NSG are realised, the action will shift immediately to Washington for the last act of this prolonged drama. After the IAEA and NSG act, Bush will waste no time in sending the 123 agreement to the US Congress for its approval. Getting the Congress to act in the few weeks that it plans to work in September will require an extraordinary political effort. That will indeed be the moment of truth for the much acclaimed India lobby in Washington.

... contd.