A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

Trouble in Paradise: From Maui to Philly, Climate Disasters Are Becoming an Increasingly Normal Topic of Conversation

Over the course of my international development career, one thing that always amazed me about America was how blessed we were by nature. Abundant natural resources. Farms that could feed the world. Massive oceans and two friendly neighbors bordering us.

Yes, we certainly had our share of natural catastrophes. But, fairly or not, our relative ability to cope with them contrasted with that of so many countries constantly cursed by droughts, floods, typhoons, oppressive heat or petrifying cold that regularly left their peoples homeless or lifeless. Though our disaster responses were occasionally disasters – recall Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans – we at least knew what we should prepare for and had the capacity to respond.

Lately, we’re not looking quite so lucky or so able to adapt.

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From a Glass House to a Courthouse

Jack Smith is doing his job. The rest is up to us.

Finally.

Yesterday, a grand jury indicted Donald Trump for, in essence, trying to gut American democracy. In securing that indictment, Special Counsel Jack Smith launched a case of unprecedented importance to our country.

I’d thought that I might greet the news with relief that the inevitable has come to pass, or despair over what Trump’s abuses signify, or trepidation over the societal ruptures that await us.

But I feel something far more stirring. Not quite elation.

Pride.

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My Fourth of July Washington Post Op-ed: “The U.S. has a mixed record of promoting American-style democracy abroad”

For 40 years, the U.S. government has ignored what sorts of democracy promotion work — and which ones don’t

[This opinion piece, which in its original form can be accessed here, appeared in the “Made by History” section of the Washington Post.]

Perspective by Stephen Golub

July 4, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Stephen Golub has taught courses on legal and democratic development at Berkeley law school and Central European University’s public policy school. He has edited several volumes and published approximately 40 papers relevant to these topics. He blogs about democratic development at “A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.”

As America celebrates Independence Day, we find our democracy not nearly as strong as we’d once thought. Authoritarian challenges threaten our institutions, our rights and the rule of law.

Ironically, this sobering reality confronts us after the United States, along with affluent allies, has devoted decades and massive resources to trying to build democracy in the world’s poorer and post-communist societies, including via rule of law, good governance, human rights and anti-corruption programs. With some exceptions — mostly centered on providing electoral assistance and fortifying civil society and media — these efforts have largely fallen flat. Data from Freedom House, the World Bank and the World Justice Project confirm the decline in democracy and associated fields across the globe.

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“We Got the Bas***d!”

Trump Loses. Women and Justice Win.

Shortly after arriving in the Philippines in 1987, a year after the peaceful uprising known as People Power deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos, I attended a Manila meeting of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations. I recall the discussion somehow turning to the former strongman. Reflecting on both People Power and the longer-term, unflinching opposition that fueled his fall, the PCFR chair declared, “We got the bas***d!”

From Manila to Manhattan

The same sentiments cross my mind as I reflect on the results of E. Jean Carroll’s case against Donald Trump. In the legal equivalent of a New York minute – less than three hours of deliberations – a Manhattan jury held him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

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