Democratic powers unite!

Posted By David Bosco Friday, February 17, 2012 - 6:14 PM Share

Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff see evidence that the emerging democratic powers--including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa--are parting ways with Russia and China on human rights issues. Syria, they argue, highlighted this ongoing trend:

The double veto has made international action in Syria all the more difficult. But it also shows that Russia and China are increasingly isolating themselves from a widening consensus that human-rights violations demand an international response. In one corner, established and newer democracies, more attuned to their voters at home, are under pressure to support movements for universal rights. In the opposite corner, China and Russia are silencing domestic dissent at home while trying to prop up comparable autocrats abroad. This divide became abundantly clear when India and South Africa disassociated themselves from their usual affiliates (BRICS) to support the Security Council resolution on Syria. Brazil likely would have joined its democratic cohorts if it were still on the council.

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GRANDEROHO

6:26 PM ET

February 17, 2012

The only reason I think the

The only reason I think the 'democratic powers' are parting ways with Russia and China are mostly economic. Destabilizing the middle east and the overthrow of autocrats hasn't caused energy prices to budge much from what I've seen considering all that has happened. The economic fears of these democracies mentioned are sort of negated and the greatest argument that Russia and China had in their favor has been thrown to the wind. At this point Russia and China don't have anything to fall back on, except for the veto.

GRANT

11:13 PM ET

February 17, 2012

This is far too uncertain and

This is far too uncertain and is based off of just one case. To date India has been far less willing to join with the U.S and Europe on Iran. More data is needed to know if it is simply a matter of democratic cohesion, the states in question having the opinion that Assad blew it or something else. Additionally I'm still skeptical as to how strong the BRICS relationship is.

EALINIKOFF

4:35 PM ET

February 20, 2012

RE: This is far too uncertain

Grant, you are right to point out that this would be an uncertain finding if based on just one case. The Security Council vote on Syria is one of dozens of examples that demonstrates that rising democracies--India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, and Indonesia--are carving out their own path in international politics, one that validates core human rights norms while offering alternative methods of defending them. They will continue to clash publicly with established democracies about the preferred means for achieving democracy and human rights goals, and will struggle to reconcile their commitment to these norms with their desire to challenge US/Western powers.

For more comprehensive analyses of these trends, please see: http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2012/0109_rising_democracies_piccone.aspx and http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2011/1026_democracy_piccone.aspx