Publisher's Synopsis
How does U.S. security assistance affect host nation democratization? This thesis analyzes Department of State and Department of Defense assistance over time to Lebanon and Pakistan to evaluate its effects on the host nation's political rights and civil liberties, measured by Freedom House ratings. In both cases, changes in Freedom House ratings did not correlate consistently with changes in U.S. security assistance. The influence of U.S. security assistance on host nation governance is frequently over-stated. U.S. security assistance has minimal effect on democratization compared to local and regional actors, because it is designed and resourced primarily to accomplish security objectives, not to drive enduring institutional reform. If the United States wanted security assistance to decisively support democratization, then it would need to design and resource security assistance and security cooperation programs differently. Redesigning U.S. security assistance to supersede the influence of other factors on democratization would require increasing funding toward defense institution building, making security assistance conditional on political rights and civil liberties performance, and consistently integrating security assistance within a whole-of-government strategy toward the host nation for a generation or more. Since spreading democracy was a frequently stated characteristic of U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, it is expected that SA efforts support policy objectives to the maximum extent possible. Funding allocated by U.S. Congress is what enables the executive branch to conduct SA in accordance with applicable laws. If SA supports democratization, then the United States should fund SA liberally if it wants to promote democracy
