America Must Once Again be a Beacon of Democracy

By: Orit Frenkel, Executive Director, ALI, and Claude Fontheim, ALI Advisory Board Member

At the American Leadership Initiative, we work every day to develop a 21st Century agenda for advancing American global leadership based upon American interests and values. Unfortunately, America’s moral authority as a global leader has been undermined by systemic racism brought to light again by police killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and others. Many around the world have looked on in dismay as violent police assaults on peaceful protesters and journalists on American streets look very much like images they are used to seeing in repressive regimes. We support the protesters calling for police reform, an affirmation that black lives matter, and an end to racially based violations of human and civil rights.

The urgent need to protect our own democracy through, among other things, pushing vigorously against racism and police attacks on peaceful demonstrators and journalists, is inextricably linked to the American Leadership Initiative’s core mission of advancing American global leadership, including supporting democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Recent protests, the vast majority of which have been peaceful, have served as a powerful reminder of the ways in which a rule of law-based democracy can self-correct.  

Human rights emerged as an element of U.S. foreign policy in the aftermath of World War II, as much of the world grappled with the atrocities of that war. Human rights became a mainstay of American foreign policy, especially over the past 40 years. In 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt played an instrumental role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was the first Chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights, of which the U.S. was a charter member. 

While the U.S. had a spotty record, which included supporting oppressive regimes and abusive practices, especially during the Cold War era, America nonetheless emerged as a global standard setter for democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and has projected these values globally.

President Jimmy Carter and congressional assertiveness in the late 1970s moved human rights and democracy to the forefront of American foreign policy. President Reagan’s work with a bipartisan coalition in Congress to create the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983 expanded U.S. activity advancing democracy abroad.

Despite systemic racism and other human rights challenges in American society, the U.S. was influential in advancing democracy, the rule of law and human rights globally. Over the past decades the U.S. used sanctions effectively to eliminate apartheid in South Africa, obtained the release of Soviet Jews, took military action to stop a genocide in Bosnia, and most recently imposed sanctions against China over forced labor and the broader oppression of Uyghur Muslims in China, and its recent clamp-down on democracy in Hong Kong. While application of that policy has been uneven, often taking a back seat to geostrategic and national security priorities, the U.S. has nonetheless continued to be a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples around the world. 

This crisis that instigated U.S. protests, has come after a period of growing domestic economic inequality and decline in the rule of law. The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index for 2020, shows the U.S. slipping out of the top 20 for the first time. Their sub-index on equal treatment and absence of discrimination lists the U.S. as 98th out of 128 countries. Freedom of the press, a hallmark of America’s democracy at home and a value it preaches abroad, has also fallen in recent years. Reporters without Borders listed the U.S. as 45th in its 2020 Press Freedom Index, behind Burkina Faso and Suriname. Recent protests have seen an escalation of police attacks on U.S. and foreign journalists covering the protests. As of June 17, there were more than 430 cases of journalists being wrongfully arrested or abused.

The loss of U.S. moral authority to promote democracy, the rule of law and human rights will have grave consequences for America and millions of oppressed people around the world unless we make significant changes at home. Nascent democracy movements, which have felt abandoned over the past three years, will feel they have nowhere to go for support, while the authoritarian governments recently embraced by the U.S. government in the Philippines, Turkey, Hungary and elsewhere, feel emboldened. When China’s Foreign Minister tweets, “I can’t breathe,” America’s credibility on rule of law, human rights and democracy has reached a new low.

While our government’s behavior has diminished our strength at home and abroad, the racial inequality and injustice felt in the U.S. has resonated globally, and minorities around the world have looked to American protesters as an example they have eagerly replicated.

The protests against racism and inequality now gripping American cities have gone global, triggering similar protests in Australia, London, Paris, Nairobi, Buenos Aires, Toronto, and beyond. Oppressed minorities have risen up against similar circumstances they are facing in their countries. Thousands of Australians have demonstrated against police brutality towards the indigenous population, sparked by the death of David Dangay whose last words were “I can’t breathe,” while he was in police custody.

Igniting the fire of oppressed minorities around the world to stand up for human rights, racial justice and democracy may be the unexpected silver lining of America’s crisis. Countries around the world may no longer count on the U.S. government to be the standard bearer of rule of law and democracy, but everyday Americans protesting for racial equality and their rights to peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances, are setting an example for oppressed people globally. America’s peaceful protesters are providing global leadership on how to restore democracy.

Only when Americans boldly take on systemic racism, and protect human rights and the rule of law at home, can America reclaim the mantle of a being a global beacon of democracy and human rights. We have a long road in front of us to correct our racial injustices and economic inequalities, and the U.S. should set a global example in how to right those wrongs. The world is counting on us.