FPRI Announces Publication of New Book

• Adrian A. Basora
• Agnieszka (Aya) Marczyk
• Maia Otarashvili
• Amb. Kenneth Yalowitz
• Carl Gershman
• Nikolas K. Gvosdev
• Richard Kraemer
• Sarah Bush
• Melinda Haring
• Tsveta Petrova
• Michal Koran
• Larry Diamond
• April 14, 2017

Does democracy matter? Is democracy on the defensive globally? If so, what can – or should – the United States do to support democracy throughout the world? Furthermore, should fostering democracy be a major goal of U.S. foreign policy? If not, what are the alternatives? If yes, how might we achieve this goal effectively?

These are the questions explored in a new book, co-published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Rowman and Littlefield, Does Democracy Matter? The United States and Global Democracy Support. This volume was edited by Amb. Adrian A. Basora, Agnieszka Marczyk, and Maia Otarashvili.

The official book launch will take place on April 20, 2017 at an event hosted by the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C. Reservations for this event can be made here.

 “The authors of this book make a point that deserves repeating to the American public every day: Defending democracy and human rights around the world isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s also unquestionably in America’s best interest,” says Christian Caryl, editor at Democracy Post and the Washington Post.

This book is one of the final products of the Project on Democratic Transitions at FPRI, a culmination of over a decade of long-term research on the issues of post-authoritarian democratization, with contributions by Amb. Adrian A. Basora, Sarah Sunn Bush, Larry Diamond, Carl Gershman, Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Melinda Haring, Michal Kořan, Richard Kraemer, Agnieszka Marczyk, Tsveta Petrova, and Kenneth Yalowitz.

Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace adds that “this collection of focused, insightful essays by top experts is well-timed. The editors advance important recommendations for doing better, persuasively arguing that democracy promotion must adapt to the challenging global context if it is to survive.” 

The publication of Does Democracy Matter? was made possible by the generous support of the Leo Model Foundation and the Cotswold Foundation.

FPRI is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank located in Center City Philadelphia. Its mission is to bring the insights of scholarship to bear on the foreign policy and national security challenges facing the United States. It seeks to educate the public, teach teachers, train students, and offer ideas to advance U.S. national interests based on a nonpartisan, geopolitical perspective that illuminates contemporary international affairs through the lens of history, geography, and culture.