Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheConnecticutYankeeintheCourtofKingArthur 165

Versailles,thenewdemocracybeganlifeunderfarmoreadversecondi-
tionsthanthoseofWeimar.Germanylostvastlymoreterritoryin 1945
thanin1919;itseconomywasfarmorebitterlydisrupted,anditsentire
socialorderhadbeentwistedanddistortedbytwelveyearsofNazirule.
Yetinallthreecases,democraticgovernmentsputdownroots,and
allthreecountriesbecamereliableAmericanalliesduringtheColdWar
andafter.Thesewerehardcases;ifdemocracycouldtakerootinwhat
hadbeenNaziGermanyitcouldsurelyflourishanywhere.
Themoresustainedinterventionsfordemocracy,involvingmethods
shortofforce,thatcharacterizedmissionaryactivityinthenineteenth
centuryalsoincreasedandacceleratedinthetwentieth.Organizations
suchasRadioFreeEuropeandVoiceofAmericaintheColdWar,and
theNationalEndowmentforDemocracy,supportednonviolenteffortsto
spreaddemocraticideasandsolidifydemocraticpoliciesabroad.Thevast
networkofnongovernmentalprodemocracyorganizationscontinuesto
askforandtoreceiveconsularanddiplomaticsupportfromtheUnited
Statesinmanyplacesaroundtheworld,muchasthemissionariesdid.
Theworkoftransformingtheworldondemocraticlinesgoeson.

A

fterthepromotionofdemocracy,thenextobjectofWilsonian
strategicthoughtisthepreventionofwar. Alwaysbrutaland
destructive,warundermodernconditions,sayWilsonians,isbecoming
unbearableand potentiallyriskstheexterminationofthehumanrace.
Themodernantiwarmovementdates backtothe 1820Sand 1830s,
whenevangelicalChristiangroupssummoneda seriesofpeacecongresses
tolookfor waysandmeanstoendthescourgeofwar.Asimprovedmeth-
odsofcommunications,combinedwitha growingdestructivepowerin
arms, broughttheshockingspectacleofmodernwarinall itshorror
closertocivilianreaders,theantiwarmovementgainedstrength,quickly
movinginthreecomplementarydirections.Thepeacecongressmove-
menthas continued underdifferent institurionalforms through the
presentday,conveninginternational gatheringsofactiviststodevelop
proposalsfora peacefulworld,andseekingthroughstudentexchanges
andinstitutionaltiesacrossnationalboundariestobuilda networkof
activistsandorganizationsinmanycountriesdeterminedtostopwar.
Thesecondbranchofthemovementsoughttoreducethehorrorsofwar-
farebyimposingcodesofconductonitandbylimitingtheproduction,
distriburion,anduseofarms.Thisprogramledtotheformationofthe