Not since the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, whose administration eight decades ago was devoted to ‘‘making the world safe for democracy,’’ has democratic promotion been a more prominent feature of American foreign policy. One political observer notes that ‘‘Bush is becoming the most Wilsonian president since Wilson himself.’’1 Having jettisoned his pledge during the 2000 presidential campaign to pursue a hardnosed, realist approach to international relations focused on ‘‘vital interests,’’ in recent months the president and his advisors have embraced the idealistic notion of spreading democracy across the globe as a key foreign policy objective.

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