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By Denis MacShane
May 9, 2011
As the 'Arab Spring' stutters into a summer stalemate, has the time come to revise policy thinking on development so that it includes democracy promotion as well as poverty alleviation?
Sixty years ago Harold Wilson wrote his book,
British foreign policy was relaunched a year ago as the new foreign secretary, William Hague, pledged an end to interventionism and ordered his ambassadors to focus on trade. Cameron visited China and India and all the talk was of building links with the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), side-lining Europe and Barack Obama's America. This mercantilist reductionism did not survive its first contact with reality. The Arab revolt produced as dramatic a reordering of British foreign policy as has been seen in decades. After the prime minister's unhappy arms sales trip to the Gulf and the embarrassing problems over evacuating British oil workers enjoying their tax-free lives in Libya, the high quality professionals of the
But how does British foreign policy continue to make an impact once the dust dies down over Libya? In an important yet under-reported speech to the Kuwait Parliament, Cameron made a plea to southern Mediterranean and Gulf states to move towards greater economic freedom, rule of law, and the other norms of universal, not necessarily western, values and human rights. The question now is how to translate that vision into reality?
One way would be to create a
There is a Cinderella outfit already in place - the
As a Parliamentary Private Secretary and Minister at the FCO between 1997 and 2005, I failed to persuade successive foreign secretaries to consider boosting the
In the 1970s, as the Iberian peninsula and Greece nervously left behind an authoritarian past, the well-financed German political foundations were active in Spain supporting the fledgling conservative and socialist parties and trade unions. These foundations were also active in making sure that the hopes of a communist take-over, so feared by Henry Kissinger, did not come to pass. In the 1980s they, together with smaller outfits in the Nordic countries and the US National Endowment for Democracy, were present in South America, South Africa and South Korea as those regions of the world moved towards democracy.
A
In itself, a
In a perfect world, there should be a
It would also develop a greater knowledge amongst those on its staff or those sent abroad on projects and missions about real-time politics. It would have three tasks: firstly, to promote independent businesses and open trade economics; secondly, to build party political contacts between Britain and overseas political groups; and thirdly, to sustain civil society institutions like independent legal systems, free journalism, democratic union, and women's groups.
It would be a legacy for the present coalition government to bequeath to its successors. Most importantly, it would widen the idea of development so that it included democracy development. The best way to wage a war on want is to create functioning democracies. Can Britain show a lead?
Denis MacShane is MP for Rotherham and was a PPS and Minister at the FCO, 1997-2005, and British delegate to the
Available at Amazon.com:
Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World
Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East (The Contemporary Middle East)
The End of History and the Last Man
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?
Running Out of Water: The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource
Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century
Dining With al-Qaeda: Three Decades Exploring the Many Worlds of the Middle East
Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the World Economy
Copyright ©, Chatham House; Distributed by TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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