The United States will send $ 9.5 billion to support democracy around the world in 2022-2024

 The United States will send $ 9.5 billion to support democracy around the world in 2022-2024

The White House plans to allocate $9.5 billion to support democracy and human rights around the world in 2022-2024. This statement was published on the website of the White House.

"In fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024, the United States has already invested and is committed to providing approximately $9.5 billion, working with Congress and subject to the availability of appropriations, to support democracy, human rights, and better governance around the world," the statement said . .

In addition, the US also announced $690 million to support democracy, the media, and free elections around the world. US President Joe Biden made a statement about this , speaking at the "Summit for Democracy".

The first “Summit for Democracy” was held in 2021. The organisers of the forum said that it should strengthen the unity of democratic states against the backdrop of the rise of autocracies, among which, according to the States, Russia and China are of particular concern. The second "Summit for Democracy" takes place from March 28 to 30, and is attended by leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Turkey and Hungary, both US NATO allies, were not invited to the summit.

More details about : in the material "Kommersant" "Democracy is the mother of order

Joe Biden gathers like-minded people around the world again

The second “democracy summit,” hosted by US President Joe Biden, will bring together representatives from more countries than the first of its kind in 2021. Washington has expanded the list of participants to include a number of states in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But Turkey and Hungary were not invited to the summit. As conceived by the initiators of the summit, it should strengthen the unity of democratic states against the background of the strengthening of autocracies, among which, according to the States, Russia and China are of particular concern. Nevertheless, according to analysts, the creation of such platforms does not lead to the strengthening of democratic regimes or an increase in their number, since such events have only a symbolic meaning. 

Democracy is the mother of order

Joe Biden gathers like-minded people around the world again The second “democracy summit,” hosted by US President Joe Biden, will bring together representatives from more countries than the first of its kind in 2021. Washington has expanded the list of participants to include a number of states in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But Turkey and Hungary were not invited to the summit. As conceived by the initiators of the summit, it should strengthen the unity of democratic states against the background of the strengthening of autocracies, among which, according to the States, Russia and China are of particular concern. Nevertheless, according to analysts, the creation of such platforms does not lead to the strengthening of democratic regimes or an increase in their number, since such events have only a symbolic meaning.

As president of the White House in January 2021, US President Joe Biden immediately declared that one of his main goals in office would be to protect and spread democracy around the world, including the States, where democracy, he said, suffered during the reign of Donald Trump.

Mr. Biden has repeatedly said that there is now a global battle of democracies against autocracies and the task of Washington and its allies is to win this fight.

The seriousness of the intentions of the American leader should have been emphasised by the “Summit for Democracy” convened for the first time in December 2021, which united on its platform all countries worthy of participating in it, in the opinion of the United States.

Since that moment, the world has faced powerful challenges, including the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and against this background, Washington tried to make the second summit even more global than the previous one. At the events of the forum on March 28-30, which will mostly be held online, Joe Biden, unlike the last summit, will not be the sole chairman. This time, the organisers decided that the head of the White House would each have a co-host from different continents. The presidents of Zambia, Costa Rica and South Korea, as well as the prime minister of the Netherlands, were selected for this role. Deprived (apparently, due to the laws of geography), but only Australia turned out to be unoffended. They decided to resort to this format, probably in order to correct the mistake of the last summit, at which the special role of the United States caused a lot of criticism. In other words,

A total of 121 leaders were invited to the summit, eight more than in 2021.

However, despite the diversification of the co-chairs, the criteria for the democratic nature of the participants are still determined in Washington, and this has already led to some tension. According to Western media, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is due to vote on May 14, was not invited to the summit. However, he was not invited not because of electoral ethics, but because of suspicions of authoritarian inclinations, albeit covered by democratic procedures.

Even more resonant was the refusal to invite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was re-elected for a fourth term last year, to the summit. He has long been accused of deviating from liberal values, pressuring the press and favouring Moscow. Moreover, claims against Budapest are openly expressed both in the US and in the European Union.

But the list of participants included India, which is considered the world's largest democracy in terms of population. True, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was recently expelled from parliament there, which greatly alarmed human rights organisations. Pakistan is also ranked among the democracies, where last year Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from his post, who then found himself under criminal prosecution.

Washington demonstrates to Africa that it is more profitable to cooperate with it than with Russia and China

Meanwhile, five African countries that were denied democracy in 2021 will make it to the summit: Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Mauritania and Mozambique. Such an expansion of participants at the expense of these states is quite consistent with the US attempts to increase its influence in Africa, where Vice President Kamala Harris has gone these days. Within a week, she will visit Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, whose President Hakainde Hichilema was recognized by Washington as a model of democracy and was awarded the title of co-host of the summit. The Latin American country of Honduras will also become a newcomer, despite problems with domestic violence and the recent rejection of ties with Taiwan by the authorities in favour of Beijing.

No matter how hard the organisers of the summit tried, its assessments in the American media are very restrained. Foreign Affairs magazine , published by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, came out ahead of the event with a very revealing headline: “The US Doesn't Need Another Summit of Democracies. They need a plan to counter authoritarianism.”

The publication Foreign Affairs notes that today 72% of the world's population lives in autocracies, although back in 2012 this figure was 46%.

The first Summit for Democracy…was intended to encourage democratic countries to work to promote democracy within their own borders. But the US has not set up an accompanying monitoring mechanism, making it difficult to track how countries are meeting their commitments. The US has not made defending democracy abroad a top foreign policy priority, which is puzzling given that Biden called the struggle between democracy and autocracy "the defining challenge of our time," writes Foreign Affairs.

According to the magazine, the administration's focus is on organising summits that "bring together countries that are already heavily committed to democracy," but that policy doesn't require the sometimes "difficult choice between values ​​and interests." The article emphasises that Washington often avoids confrontation with regimes and countries where there has been a clear shift in favour of authoritarianism, if this could harm US interests in a particular state or region. The rather close cooperation of the States with Chad, Thailand and Vietnam is given as an example, despite their incomplete compliance with democratic standards.

Civil liberties have become a luxury for 96.8% of the world's population

The Biden administration presents its support for Ukraine as evidence of a commitment to defending democracy, but the fact that it has done much to help Kiev also underscores how little it has done to counter threats to democracy in parts of the world where U.S. interests are at stake. And if the United States does not want the second summit, like the first, to end with the usual declarative statements about the importance of the struggle of democracies against autocracies, Washington needs to develop a full-fledged global strategy to counter authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs believes. In other words, symbolism without concrete steps and a program of action will not lead to qualitative changes. Meanwhile, the summit will begin with just a symbolic act, namely, with a discussion about peace in Ukraine with the participation of President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, it could not be otherwise - after all, Joe Biden considers the Ukrainian crisis the front line of the struggle of democracies against autocracies, and in general, now, perhaps, there is no situation in the world that causes at least a comparable concern of the international community, as Russian- Ukrainian conflict. Therefore, there will certainly be a lot of talk about peace in Ukraine at the "Summit for Democracy", but whether they will find a way to it is a big question.