Foreign Policy for a Democratic President

Abstract

SPEAKING before the National Endowment for Democracy last fall, President George W. Bush delivered an important statement of American purpose. He rightly argued that the United States has an interest in political freedom in Muslim countries, because the absence of freedom denies people peaceful avenues for expressing dissent and thus drives them toward shadowy, violent alternatives. He fairly criticized past administrations for having been too tolerant of author itarian Arab regimes. And he committed the United States to the difficult but vital task of supporting more open and democratic societies in the Middle East. But with few exceptions, the democratic activists, politicians, journalists, and intellectuals in the Muslim world-our natural partners in this effort-met President Bush's speech with skepticism, even