Learning to Live With DespotsMarch/April 2020 51clear improvement in governance.
Trying to eliminate corruption entirely
may preclude eliminating the worst
forms o corruption. And greater security
may mean more violations o individual
rights. Good government is not in the
interests o the elites in most countries
the United States wants to change, where
rulers will reject or undermine reforms
that could weaken their hold on power.
A foreign policy with more limited
aims, by contrast, might actually achieve
more. Greater security, some economic
growth, and the better provision o some
services is the best the United States
can hope for in most countries. Achieving
good enough governance is feasible,
would protect U.S. interests, and would
not preclude progress toward greater
democracy down the road.
Policies aiming for good enough
governance have already succeeded.
The best example comes from Colombia,could spread to the developed world,
killing millions. The technology needed
to create arti¥cial pathogens is becom-
ing more widely available. For these
reasons, the United States has to play a
role in the outside world, whether it
wants to or not, in order to lower the
chances o the worst possible outcomes.
And because despots are here for the
foreseeable future, Washington will
always have to deal with them. That will
mean promoting not good government
but good enough governance. Good
government is based on a Western ideal
in which the government delivers a
wide variety o services to the popula-
tion based on the rule o law, with laws
determined by representatives selected
through free and fair elections. Good
government is relatively free o corrup-
tion and provides reliable security for all
citizens. But pushing for elections
often results only in bloodshed, with noPILAR
OLIVARES
/ REUTERS
No James Madison: President Jair Bolsonaro in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, July 2019