DEMOCRACY: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom by Condoleezza Rice, 482 pp. published by Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, May 2017. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4555-4018-1. Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4555-4019-8. Signed edition ISBN: 987-1-5387-5997-4. $35.00 U.S. Available on Amazon.
Hands down, this is my choice for the 2017 contribution to our understanding and pursuit of security. Citizen, scholar, CEO or policymaker, this long lens survey of emergent, maturing and failed democracy in nine countries and regions across the world provides both food for thought and frames of reference for the numerous news alerts, political hiccups and trickles of information that come at us constantly. If you want a handle on the conundrum of Russian democracy, it is yours in a chapter that is as compelling a read about personalities and proclivities as it is analytical and instructive. If you are baffled by the paucity of official support for the ninety two percent of Kurds who voted for independence from Iraq in September 2017, Dr. Rice's chapter on the Middle East will provide you an appreciation for their catch-22 of competence, resources and geography. And if you feel swept up in, or swept aside by, the divisiveness in American politics, the very first chapter makes the case that the perfection of democracy in the U.S. has consistently been inconsistent, imperfect, sometimes violent, rarely smooth and yet, remarkably stable for the institutions the Founders built. In a word, there's something here for everyone and the organization of this comprehensive work makes for easy access to one's interests.
Within these 450+ pages is an appraisal of a concept articulated in four of Condoleezza Rice's compelling voices - as an authoritative analyst, advocate, raconteur and enthusiast. Through her scholarship at Stanford University and her empirical observations as U.S. National Security Advisor and U.S. Secretary of State, we see that there are elastic expressions of democracy beyond the American experience. Democracy has taken hold across cultures and countries whose histories contain no hint of democratic philosophy or behavior. We see the areas of the world where varying degrees, experiments, emulations and aspects of democracy as we know it are in progress; witness the 2010 elections in Iraq and the 2010 promulgation of a constitution in Kenya. And we see how regional stability and security are enhanced for the presence of democratic nations. On page 432, Dr. Rice declares
There is both a moral and practical case for democracy promotion. In the long arc of history, we know that democracies don't fight each other. The "democratic peace" is observable. No one today is sorry that the United States helped build a democratic Germany and Japan after World War II. Both had been aggressors against their neighbors and there was no guarantee that they would not be again. Neither country had sustained experience with democracy and it took time for institutions to take root. But we stood alongside them, and now they help to form the foundation for international peace and prosperity.
There is a vitality about this work that grips us spiritually and emotionally as well as intellectually. Portions read like a memoir as Condoleezza Rice's own journey is, in and of itself, a testament to the dynamics of American democracy - from her childhood in segregated Alabama, to her studies in the former Soviet Union, to her professorship at Stanford, to her service as the first black woman in the posts of U.S. National Security Advisor and U.S. Secretary of State. And her personal passages inform her investigation. Her keen assessments and the reality checks they suggest are present from the start. On page ten she debunks what she refers to as "the myth of democratic culture" and asserts
No nationality or ethnic group lacks the DNA to come to terms with this paradox. Over the years, many people have tried to invoke "cultural explanations" to assert that some societies lack what it takes to establish or sustain democracy. But this a myth that has fallen to the reality of democracy's universal appeal ... It was once thought that Latin Americans were more suited for caudillos than presidents; that Africans were just too tribal; that Confucian values conflicted with the tenets of self-rule. Years before that Germans were thought to be too martial or too subservient, and - of course - the descendants of slaves were too "childlike" to care about the right to vote ... Those racist views are refuted by stable democracies in places as diverse as Chile, Ghana, South Korea and across Europe ....
Flowing through the brain food in this keeper are personal anecdotes that burrow deep into our hearts. They remind us that there are real people behind the democratic institutions and the procedural outcomes that make news - human beings and their stories that tell the big picture of the progress for humanity that democracy alone nurtures and protects. These anecdotes offer us reasons for patience and perspective on the timetable of democracy's progress. From the Epilogue:
Years later, sitting in our first meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair, I was heartened by something he said: "I look at the two of you and I ask whether this could happen in Great Britain. And I say, not just yet." He was referring to the African American secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the African American national security advisor, Condi Rice, sitting on either side of the president of the United States ... Blair was not the only one to notice. President Lula daSilva of Brazil talked to me about America's journey. "I wanted to be sure to have Afro-Brazilians in my cabinet," he said. Upon taking office, he named four to his cabinet, as well as the first to the Supreme Court ... These were times when America's own democratic journey sent a positive message ... And then there was Ben Franklin looking down on us from the magnificent portrait painted by David Martin in 1767. What would old Ben think of this? I thought silently as President Bush made remarks. Then, Ruth Bader Ginsburg - a Jewish woman and Supreme Court Justice - asked me to raise my hand. "I do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States ....
In the United States, the 2016 elections were catalytic to fierce debates, demonstrations and revelations concerning the endurance, integrity and dependability of our American institutions of democracy. In a post scriptum entitled "2016," Dr. Rice succinctly separates out the issues, concerns and trends in not only the U.S. but in other mature democracies. In her characteristic humility and clarity she offers a compass for moving forward smartly and sensitively. Whether you read this book in your professional stead or for your personal enrichment, "2016" is a solid place to start.
Lisa Bernard is the President of SecuritySpeak, LLC, a consulting firm devoted to matters of national, cyber and global security and crisis management. Experts in these areas offer briefings, talks and distinguished lectures to audiences of all types working to bring unbiased analyses and understanding of security matters to people in all walks of life. (203) 293-4741. www.SecuritySpeak.net.
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