Hi, and thanks. I didn't mean to say that war is never the right choice. It's unbelievably horrible, but I think that some things are worse. (Genocide, for instance.) I only meant that you have to be aware of what you're choosing, in a way that Beinart didn't seem to be. (And isn't that astonishing in itself?)
I also didn't want to say that you can never install democracy by force. I do think it's hard, and it becomes -- well, being a philosopher, I don't want to say impossible, but at any rate very, very difficult -- when you invade a country in order to install a democracy.
The reason, basically, is that building a democracy requires building institutions, and that requires cooperation by a non-negligible number of the people in the country you've invaded, and that is very unlikely to be forthcoming unless the people in that country regard your presence there as legitimate. (Not that they have to like it; I suppose almost no one actually likes being invaded.)
If that country started a war with yours, and you have invaded because they lost it, they will, presumably, not wonder: what gives YOU the right to be here? The answer is obvious. If that country was in the midst of a genuine humanitarian catastrophe (e.g., Rwanda), then again people will generally understand why you are there. In either case, they might be willing to work with you. But if you invade in order to change their government, then I think it's a lot less likely that your presence will be seen as legitimate, and thus a lot more likely that you'll fail to achieve any goal that requires the cooperation of the invaded people.
Which, if true, means: you can create a democracy when you invade for other reasons, but if that's the point of invading, it will almost certainly fail.
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| 2007 | 2 |
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