The problem with the term democracy is not that it has no meaning, but that it has too many meanings. Thus, any U.S. administration that tries to make it the lodestar of its foreign policy sails in a sea of muddle.

James L. Payne is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Director of Lytton Research and Analysis.
Defense and Foreign PolicyDemocracyDiplomacy and Foreign AidGovernment and PoliticsInternational Economics and DevelopmentLaw and LibertyPhilosophy and ReligionPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by James L. Payne
Winter 2017/18 The Government Nobody Knows—nor Wants to Know
Summer 2016 Government Fails, Long Live Government! The Rise of “Failurism”
Fall 2014 The Real Case against Activist Global Warming Policy
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