Five Rising Democracies : And the Fate of the International Liberal Order

Shifting power balances in the world are shaking the foundations of the liberal international order and revealing new fault lines in the intersection of human rights and international security. Will these new global trends help or hinder the world's long struggle for human rights and democracy? The answer depends on the role of five rising democracies: India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, and Indonesia, as both examples and supporters of liberal ideas and practices. Advanced democracies remain devoted to the aim of building a world of stable, prosperous democracies. Authoritarian states are wedded to traditional concepts of sovereignty and nonintervention regardless of the brutality of abuses on the ground. In the middle reside the rising democracies states emerging from colonialism, apartheid, or military dictatorship but now firmly rooted in constitutional democracy and market-oriented economic policies that have lifted millions of people out of poverty. Ted Piccone analyzes the transitions of these five democracies as their stars rise on the international stage. While they offer important and mainly positive examples of the compatibility of political liberties, economic growth, and human development, their foreign policies swing between interest-based strategic autonomy and a principled concern for democratic progress and human rights. In a multipolar world, the fate of the international human rights and democracy order depends on how they reconcile these tendencies. Five Rising Democracies:* Examines the global contest for democracy and human rights* Catalogs the recent history and current trajectories of these five rising democratic powers* Provides data-rich analysis of recent progress and setbacks experienced by these five countries along with practical recommendations for building a North-South consensus on human rights and democracy