A bipartisan U.S. working group released a strategic report Wednesday (April 14) recommending that the Biden administration develop a national strategy for democracy that makes promoting democracy and countering authoritarianism in China, Russia and elsewhere a priority of U.S. foreign and national security policy.
In the report, the Working Group on U.S. Pro-Democracy and Anti-Authoritarian Strategies, comprised of the non-governmental organizations Freedom House, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the McCain Institute, said the rise of authoritarianism, coupled with democratic rollbacks, threatens global stability, U.S. economic and security alliances, and human dignity. The report notes that human rights abuses and attacks on core democratic institutions and practices have accelerated over the past 15 years.
Members of the task force included leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties, expert scholars and former policymakers. They said in the report that the convergence of these threats is alarming and requires “an urgent and bold generational response” and that without aggressive action by the United States and other leading democracies to promote and defend democratic freedoms, the balance will tip to the side of authoritarianism.
The report notes that an “increasingly repressive and aggressive China” is using “economic, military, and diplomatic coercion to undermine democratic governance and advance its influence in Asia and beyond.” At the same time, Russia “foments divisiveness and insecurity in countries that have established democracy and those that are still fighting for it, especially those near their borders, viewing the spread of democracy as an existential threat.” Both Russia and China seek to advance their interests by weakening the rules-based liberal international order established and maintained by the United States and its allies in the post-World War II era.
Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said in the report’s online launch, “What we have to do over the next 10 to 30 years is how do we get China – and to some extent Russia, but primarily China – to play a role and compete on the world stage, rather than promoting authoritarianism and trying to become world hegemony , which is what they set out to try to do and are currently succeeding.”
Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, said, “We are experiencing historically unprecedented technological, economic, demographic and geopolitical changes, and this instability has created space for the rise of authoritarians around the world. To reverse this worrisome trend in time, the Biden administration must place advancing democracy and combating authoritarianism at the center of foreign policy and national security strategy.”
Released Wednesday, the report, entitled Reversing the Tide: Towards a New US Strategy to Support Democracy and Counter Authoritarianism, sets forth The report proposes seven strategies and dozens of recommendations, including calling on the Biden administration to create the first national strategy for democracy, elevate support for democracy and counter-authoritarianism to the core of U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy, strengthen and build a new international coalition for democracy, and increase investment in free and fair elections, independent media, and civil society as pillars of democratic society.
The report proposes that the White House form a National Commission on Democracy to develop, coordinate, and oversee the implementation of a national democracy strategy and promote closer coordination of domestic and foreign policy, to be led jointly by the president’s deputy national security adviser and the deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council.
The report states that the United States and its democratic partners should make clear that authoritarian governments such as China and Russia not only do not allow their citizens to enjoy basic rights, but also seek to divide and undermine democratic regimes. China and Russia interfere in democratic elections, censor external criticism, demonize civil society organizations and activists as foreign spies, exploit and exacerbate divisions in democratic societies, and support autocrats in other countries, especially those facing public opposition, the report said.
The report said the United States should also develop a strategic strategy to combat disinformation, state propaganda, online hatred and harassment in response to years of malicious global influence campaigns by China and Russia that seek to spread confusion, amplify divisions and undermine confidence in democracy. The report alleges that the Chinese government promotes propaganda and disinformation in official media outlets such as CGTN, and suppresses news unfavorable to the Chinese government through economic influence, diplomatic intimidation, and control of social media platforms by Chinese companies.
The report also recommends that the U.S. government take the lead in developing a democratic social technology policy to promote democratic governance in digital societies. The report notes that authoritarian governments like China in particular are becoming increasingly adept at using digital technology to rule authoritatively internally and export surveillance and censorship technologies externally, and that China’s model of technological authoritarianism and state capitalism is attracting followers.
The report argues that the United States should also use its economic power to promote inclusive and sustainable economic development by combining international economic policies with democratic policies to counter authoritarianism, particularly China’s authoritarian model of development. The report recommends that Washington negotiate high-standard economic agreements and use foreign aid and U.S. leadership in multilateral financial institutions to promote inclusive growth and democratic governance and avoid debt traps. The report also argues that the United States should incentivize businesses to promote democratic values in their investment destinations and provide protection for businesses that support human rights and freedom of expression from foreign governments such as China.
In addition, the Working Group calls on the U.S. government to make combating corruption and the rule of thieves a priority in its national security strategy, and the Working Group’s recommendations include using multilateral institutions to highlight the corruption of authoritarian regimes, such as Chinese state-owned enterprises that often bribe their way to overseas contracts.
The report also notes that the ultimate influence of the United States in promoting democracy and anti-authoritarianism rests on the justice and prosperity of its own democracy, and that the United States needs to lead by example by acknowledging and addressing the shortcomings of its own democracy and linking domestic reform and development to its foreign efforts.
In her opening remarks at the report launch, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said, “Democracy is a process, it is precious and hard-won. We recognize that our country is not perfect, but we are making it perfect every day, and that effort makes a difference.”
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