Word: abroader
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...After all, hotly contested democratic elections are as American as, well, campaign consultants, TV sound bites and 30-second spots. That, alas, is precisely the problem. For lost in the euphoria over this upsurge of freedom are some impolitic questions about America's own role in fostering free elections abroad. Democracy is indisputably good for the world, but are U.S.-style campaign techniques necessarily good for democracy? Should Americans feel elated if election campaigns from Manila to Moscow become as vacuous as the contest between George Bush and Michael Dukakis...
This is one high-tech arena where the Japanese and the West Europeans still cannot compete: America leads the world in the sophisticated techniques of manipulating voters in free elections. The "booming market abroad for U.S. campaign operatives" was the subject of a recent cover story in the political-industry trade journal Campaigns & Elections. As the magazine enthused, "State-of-the-art television commercials and computerized voter files are spreading rapidly to other countries. American research firms are conducting focus groups for politicians worldwide." Like old-time vaudeville acts playing the Orpheum circuit, most of the top consultants have popped...
...their off-year forays abroad, American consultants are largely motivated by avarice, arrogance and adventure. Perhaps their most high-minded justification is the contention that teaching the effective use of TV allows democratic leaders to communicate with the voters and mobilize political support. But this brings to mind the old joke about the small-town attorney who was going broke until another lawyer showed up, and they both got rich suing each other. Similarly, one media adviser in a foreign country may be a boon for democracy, but bring in a rival and you create that lucrative state known...
Such private political meddling abroad is not without foreign policy implications. There is the real risk that consultants will naively misjudge a foreign leader's commitment to democracy. Joseph Napolitan, one of the pioneering global political operatives, helped mastermind Ferdinand Marcos' 1969 re-election campaign in the Philippines. As Napolitan gushed in his 1972 memoir, "((Marcos)) is bright, knowledgeable, handsome, charismatic -- the kind of candidate you like to work with." At least Napolitan had the belated good taste to turn down the Marcos account in 1986. Instead, the aging dictator's last hurrah was handled by Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly...
Fukuyama's provocative thesis, spelled out in the summer issue of the National Interest, has stirred up a heated debate in neoconservative circles both in the U.S. and abroad. Around Harvard Square in Cambridge, reports Owen Harries, co-editor of the quarterly, the issue is sold out and copies have even been filched from subscribers' desks. Anthony Hartley, editor of Britain's prestigious monthly Encounter, adds his voice to the debate in the September issue. Translations of Fukuyama's article, titled "The End of History?," will soon appear in Japanese, Italian and Dutch journals. The French quarterly Commentaire will also...