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PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY HELPS TRADE

The current Iraqi standoff crisis illustrates yet again that our nation's foreign policy doctors continue to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of an international problem. It is not an approach unique to the Iraqi situation. Since the end of the cold war and the emergence of commercial interests dominating our foreign policy, we have forgotten which policy pillars truly advance U.S. interests--the promotion of human rights and democratization. Such a policy pursued around the world not only furthers peace but also prosperity.

It was a policy started under President Carter and adapted by President Reagan--it was one of the most successful foreign policy tools in the history of our country. Unfortunately, big business and foreign policy "realists", not understanding that this policy helped, rather than hindered U.S. commercial interests and diplomacy, persuaded successive post-cold war administrations to pull this plank from our foreign policy.

Foreign policy experts in the Bush administration eagerly departed from Reagan's emphasis on human rights in conducting international relations. Schooled in the "Realist" theory of foreign policy, these experts viewed promotion of human rights and democratization as naive and ineffective. They preferred power games and "Kissinger and don't tell" secrecy based on their belief that they knew what was best for our country and others. In the Middle East, their modus operandi has been to play countries off of each other, never letting one gain too much power over another.

The real problem in Iraq, of course, as in many other trouble spots around the world, is that the nation has a dictatorial government which does not respect the basic human rights of its people. That Iraq has biological and chemical weapon capabilities is

really beside the point. It is not that it has weapons that makes Iraq dangerous. What makes Iraq a peril is a government not based on the will of the people which disregards human rights. A government which respects human rights, vested by the people, is less likely to use biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

Russia still has tremendous nuclear capability but our country now worries less about this former cold war adversary using these weapons. Why? Not because the weapons are any less dangerous but because that country's government is one based (albeit imperfectly) on the will of the people and respect for basic human rights. The more democratization takes place there, the less we will have to worry. Democratic nations are less likely than authoritarian ones to abuse other peoples as well as their own.

Especially in the information age, when misdeeds and scandals are posted worldwide in seconds, democracies don't like to commit human malfeasance.

Ironically, it is the information age which has weakened America's resolve to promote human rights and democracy around the world. As the warts and bunions of our political system are magnified by proliferating television cameras, we have forgotten

Churchill's words, "…democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms..." We have lost confidence in our system and so don't believe we should be promoting similar ones in far-flung lands.

However, some of our greatest foreign policy triumphs came when our country promoted human rights and democratization around the world. Promotion of human rights and democratization helped bring down the Soviet Union, end apartheid and bring some semblance of standards in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Today, we treat problems in Iraq and Iran as if the problem stems from some nebulous difficulty endemic to the Middle East. The Clinton Administration, in its usual haphazard fashion, continues a policy in Iraq of bean (or in this case, bomb) counting.

If Iran and Iraq had governments which respected basic human rights, they would be less likely to threaten their neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction. In the case of Iraq, as the United States debated whether to bomb or not bomb, negotiate or bring the weight of the United Nations to bear, noticeably absent from the discussion was the notion of a long-term strategy. Any such strategy should include efforts to encourage democratization in Iraq. There is now talk by officials of eliminating Saddam Hussein, there is no talk of what should replace his government.

Promoting human rights and democratization also promotes our companies' commercial interests. Trade with Russia increased tremendously after the end of the cold war. The economic crisis in Asia is due in part to political corruption stemming from lack of true democratization. Besides, promoting basic American political values need not come at the expense of trade. There are ways other than trade sanctions to achieve these ends. It does mean that when conducting diplomacy with offending countries that we raise the issue of human rights and political liberalization. Our foreign policy should be a bully pulpit for basic human rights and a trumpet for democracy. Let the media magnifying glass melt away waxen authoritarian governments lingering in the world. Communism and apartheid could not withstand worldwide scrutiny; in time, neither will today's dictatorships.