DEMOCRACY AND THE NATIONAL INTEREST

Democracy makes good neighbors, and in an increasingly interconnected world the United States has both the means and the motive to promote t he democratic process abroad. On the home front, Americans crave a for eign policy grounded, like their nation, in idealpolitik as well as re alpolitik. The administration has made support of nascent democracies a priority of its diplomacy from Latin America to East Asia, and the r eturns from South Africa, Haiti, Russia, even Bosnia seem positive. Bu t democratization is a long, hard journey in which elections are only the first step. The United States should encourage new democratic gove rnments through their most fragile phase.