Frustration and Challenges: Looking Back on Thirty Years of Democracy Promotion in the Region

For most of the last three decades, the US has sought to promote democracy in most of the countries that once constituted the Soviet Union. The results can charitably be described as mixed. The “other than the Baltic States” mantra notwithstanding, in the rest of the region these efforts have led to a handful of democratic breakthroughs, no meaningful democratic consolidation, widespread frustration and a recognition that the work is much more complex than initially thought.

This panel will bring together practitioners, scholars and other relevant actors to reflect on the impact of the democracy promotion project in the region. The discussion will explore the work of democracy promotion, what it got right, what it got wrong and what the future might hold.