Professor Inboden and “Bringing Freedom House to the White House”

William Inboden | Jan 27, 2014

The report paints a very bleak picture of democracy around the world. The findings indicate that economic stagnation, lackadaisical democracy advocates, and an uprising in authoritarian regimes are partly to blame. “Unfortunately, American policy is not blameless. As erstwhile Shadow Government contributor David J. Kramer (now the head of Freedom House) and his colleague Arch Puddington wrote, ‘no less worrisome than these trends is the democratic world’s passivity in response…. [T]he Obama administration has signaled, in words and policies, that the encouragement of democracy is no longer a priority.'”

Professor Inboden uses historical examples of the ways presidents have responded to unforeseen human rights violations, the downfall of political regimes, and “perhaps the most catastrophic and costly surprise attack in its history” on 9/11 as comparison to the Obama administration’s lack of response to the Arab Spring and the authoritarian regimes in China and Russia.

“The authoritarians of the world have made their moves; now it is time for America to make its moves and develop a more sophisticated effort to support liberty efforts worldwide. Reading the new Freedom House report would be a good place to start.”

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