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Is Democratic Theory for Export?

Sixth Annual Morgenthau Memorial Lecture on Ethics and Foreign Policy

Jacques Barzun

May 26, 1986

Jacques Barzun

Is Democratic Theory for Export?

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Cultural historian Jacques Barzun argues that democracy is not an ideology that can be exported but a historical development and mode of life peculiar to the political context in which it developed. Extrapolating from this, we can say that attempts to base a foreign policy on the idea of exporting democracy—as sought by both the Reagan and Clinton administrations—will forever be doomed to failure.

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Annual Morgenthau Memorial Lectures

Named for famed international relations scholar Hans Morgenthau, the annual Morgenthau Memorial Lecture series is the longest-running public education initiative of the Carnegie Council, showcasing today's most distinguished thinkers on ethics and international affairs.

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