Suchergebnisse

Democracy promotion – or democracy assistance – has always represented a fil rouge in U.S. foreign policy. At least since the beginning of the 20th century, the United States has used such issue in its global and regional agenda. Despite during the Cold War the quest for national and international security in a bipolar world system restricted the role of democracy promotion as an autonomous feature in US foreign policy, since the '90s the promotion of democracy has been growing steadily. In fact, democracy promotion became a distinguishing feature in both the "Clinton doctrine" and George W. Bush's foreign policy after the 9\11 attacks. Although, under Obama, US democracy promotion has experienced a consistent re-orientation, it has not disappeared from the US global agenda. This article aims to show the evolution of US democracy promotion, in particular from the Cold War bipolar world to the multipolar system of the 21th century: from both a theoretical and practical perspective, democracy promotion has gone through different phases and evolutions but it is still vividly alive within US foreign policy.

The promotion of democracy in Cuba has been, especially after the Cold War, a distinguishing feature of US foreign policy towards Havana. This article analyzes the evolution in US democracy promotion in Cuba, especially after the latest openings to Cuba (December 2014). Regarding the promotion of democracy on the island, the so-called 'abandonment of democracy' in US foreign policy never took place, and this implies a renovated effort to foster regime change - or at least a regime evolution - in Cuba. Obama resisted the virulent and invasive rhetoric of the 'Bush doctrine', and introduced some changes in US-Cuba state-to-state relations, while giving a strong relevance to the 'people-to-people's diplomacy' and 'public diplomacy', still perceived as tools to foster a political change on the island.

For almost three decades, democracy promotion has been the cornerstone of US policy towards Cuba and it has shaped bilateral relations around the democratic conditionality codified in the embargo against the island. Obama entered the White House as the 'open minded candidate' who could realize the promise embedded within Jimmy Carter's 2002 speech in Havana, but, for different reasons, the new President opted for a more 'Clintonian' approach characterized by only a partial relaxation of sanctions and people-to-people diplomacy as a tool for obtaining more political concessions from Raul Castro.