History proves that US foreign policy has always been characterized by securing us interests and resources- during the cold war supporting autocratic regimes in order “containing communism” was second to making sure the international community was safe for US elites- when mass movements against anti democratic regimes started to take hold, the US had to justify its colonialist foreign policy by promoting democracy abroad- US and IR policy elites churned out literature justifying this new benign form of foreign policy- this hid the transition from coercive means of social control to seemingly consensual ones
Robinson, William 1996 ( promoting polyarchy ; globalization US intervention, and hegemony, 14-16
This technocratic liberal democracy promotion holds a singular American based conception of democracy that excludes alternative forms of political thought- leading to an obliteration of difference and racialized violence
Long, ‘6 [David Long, Carleton University Professor of International Affairs, “liberalism, imperialism, and empire,” Studies in Political Economy, Vol 78, 2006, https://twpl.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/spe/article/view/5218/2111]
This neoliberal order prevents self-determination—it imposes Western imperialism under the façade of democratic and free governance
Ayers, ‘9 [Alison J. Ayers, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Imperial Liberties: Democratisation and Governance in the ‘New’ Imperial Order, Political Studies, Volume 57, Issue 1, pages 1–27, March 2009]
The supposed benevolence of this liberal democracy is a lie- colonialism has transformed itself from more obvious coercive acts of force to a velvet glove of oppressive relations
Ayers, ‘9 [Alison J. Ayers, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Imperial Liberties: Democratisation and Governance in the ‘New’ Imperial Order, Political Studies, Volume 57, Issue 1, pages 1–27, March 2009]
This notion of liberal democracy has foundations in notions of racial superiority that are used as justifications for imperialist and violent interventions in the name of spreading democracy
Farrel ‘5
(Theo Farrell is reader in War in the Modern World at King’s College London, “Strategic Culture and American Empire,” SAIS Review, Volume 25, Number 2, Summer-Fall 2005, pp. 3-18, P. museDN)
This American exceptionalism destroys the ontology of the oppressed- it blames them for their shortcoming making it impossible to recognize alternative political existences
Spanos 8
[William Spanos American Exceptionalism in the Age of Globalization. 2008. 58-60]
liberal democracy is not actual democracy but rather a mask for elite control of society- people don’t really express their political voices, it’s a façade designed to ensure political elites never lose control of resources
Glenn Sankatsing (acting minister of foreign minister of Suriname) Published in: Political Democracy, Social Democracy and the Market in the Caribbean. Edited by Jack Menke. Paramaribo, Democracy Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, 2004
Thus Nick and I advocate a rethinking of democracy assistance.
The 1ac’s fundamental questioning of the way liberal democracy presents itself as the only legitimate political system opens up space to radically examine what democracy assistance is- we need to democratize the debate about democracy in order to transform the current neocolonial order.
Kurki, and Hobson ’09 [Milja Kurki, Aberystwyth University, Christopher Hobson, principal investigator of thePolitical Economies of Democratisation project, based at the department of international politics, Aberystwyth University
a postdoctoral fellow in the department of international politics, Opendemocracy.net Democracy and democracy support- a new era)
Challenging the legitimacy of liberal democracy is essential-Empire is maintained by a seemingly “neutral” political science that shores up liberal assumptions and controls what is or isn’t a legitimate political thought
Wedeen in 2k7 (Lisa, Professor of Political Science Lisa Wedeen specializes in comparative politics, the Middle East, political theory, feminist theory, and qualitative methods, Scientific Knowledge, Liberalism and Empire: American Political Science in the Modern Middle East Social Science Research Council, June 14-15, 2007, http://www.ssrc.org/workspace/images/crm/new_publication_3/%7B8a197abf-ed60-de11-bd80-001cc477ec70%7D.pdf)
We need to affirm democracy’s contestability-a recognition of possibility of non liberal democracy as a legitimate political formation allows us to challenge the knowledge production of the status quo
Kurki, ’10 [Milja Kurki, Aberystwyth University, Democracy and Conceptual Contestability: Reconsidering Conceptions of Democracy in Democracy Promotion, International Studies Review (2010) 12, 365-6]
The plan solves American exceptionalism- engaging in a rigorous examination of our current monolithic approach to democracy assistance allows us to transform our psychological relationship to the international community
Carothers, Thomas 2004 ( vp of studies at Carnegie institute , Critical mission: essays on democracy promotion, page 153-154)
