The Autonomy Rule

Charles Kupchan, professor of international relations at Georgetown University, and Adam Mount, doctoral candidate at Georgetown, presented their paper, “The Autonomy Rule,” which was published in the most recent issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Rachel Kleinfeld, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Truman National Security Project, and Eli Lake, senior reporter at The Washington Times and The New York Sun, offered their critiques, concerns and analysis of the paper’s arguments. The new administration in the White House has promised a more prudent form of democracy promotion abroad as well as willingness to engage and work with non-democracies. The panelists exchanged ideas and debated what should be the goals, standards, means and place of democracy promotion in America’s foreign policy strategy. While all the panelists agreed that promoting democracy is important, Kupchan and Mount argued for a new standard for American strategy that is more tolerant and cooperative with states that are not democracies but generally promote their citizens’ well-being.

Kupchan and Mount explained that while democracy will most likely prevail in the long run on its own merits, it cannot be forced on states by outside powers and for the time being the United States must be content to cooperate with responsible states whether they are democracies or not. They argued that instead of investing our energy in trying to promote a narrower liberal international order, as some thinkers such as John Ikenberry suggest, we should promote a broader pluralistic international order that is inclusive of all states except those engaged in egregious violations of their citizens’ well-being.

Rachel Kleinfeld challenged this idea, arguing that democracy is necessary to ensure the well-being of citizens over time. She also contended that the autonomy rule represents a capitulation of liberal values that is caused by an over exaggeration of the projected decline of American power in the future. Additionally she pointed out the difficulty of measuring citizens’ well-being, particularly in the absence of democracy.

Lake first praised the paper for some of its common ground with his position. The use of basic human rights and well-being as the minimum standard for the autonomy rule echoes the singling out of rogue states, he said. However, he went on to argue that cooperation with illiberal states is frequently problematic because it is based on trying to predict the motivations and behavior of autocrats in tightly closed and opaque systems. Last, Lake pointed out that domestically such a foreign policy would be very difficult to sell to the public and would be impractical politically.

Steve Clemons moderated the question and answer session that followed. Clemons offered several thoughts and questions for the panel from a more realist perspective and then opened the floor for questions. The discussion covered topics such as similar policies in the past, the tension between our interests and norms and the implications of the autonomy rule for current affairs, among many more.

--Event summary by William Monroe, Intern, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation

Participants

featured speakers
Charles Kupchan
Professor, International Relations
Georgetown University

Rachel Kleinfeld
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Truman National Security Project

Adam Mount
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Government
Georgetown University

moderator
Steve Clemons
Director, American Strategy Program
New America Foundation
Publisher, The WashingtonNote.com