Free trade helps to spread democractic ideals. This is the idea presented in a small article from the CATO Institute called Trade, Democracy, and the War on Terror. The article explains that as trade and globalization have spread throughout the last 30 years so have democracy and policitcal freedoms. Nations that have submited to trade reforms in recent years are more likely to expand their citizens' political and social freedoms.
If the United States government wants to spread democracy it should increase trade. It might be more effective to increase trade than to increase military pressure on most countries. Maybe the saying should be "the dollar is mightier than the sword."
2 comments:
There is a very interting article on Becker's and Posner's blog. Becker says is easier to reach political freedom trough economic freedom then by doing the opposite way...
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/03/economic_and_po.html
I think the last comment linking to the Becker-Posner blog is the one to pay attention to. They, and the Cato Institute are merely pointing out the regularity in the data: countries that trade openly often evolve towards more democracy, while democratic countries do not always evolve towards greater economic freedom.
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