The United States of America finances many civil society
programs in Russia, including those that are pro-democracy and those that
promote public health. For the past twenty years, America has funded these
programs for fifty million dollars a year. Russia is putting an end to this,
however, in the Kremlin’s efforts to get America out of its affairs. One of the
programs that that was funded by America was Golos, Russia’s only independent
election monitoring group. They have been successful in outing corruption in
elections, but without the funding from America, they may not be as successful
in the future. The purpose of the funding was to help the country recover from
the Soviet Union collapse by rebuilding the economy and helping health
programs. Russia has prospered, however, and is now a world power, so the funding
primarily goes to democracy and human rights programs. This transition was not
received well by the Russian government, hence the Kremlin’s mission to get rid
of the funding. Many citizens of Russia, however, including members of Golos,
believe that free elections in Russia are not an American goal, but a Russian
goal.
Russia isn’t the only country that hasn’t gratefully
received democracy building efforts by the United States. Other countries that
aren’t very receptive include Egypt and Pakistan. Should America continue its ethnocentric
efforts in other countries whose governments have antithetical principles and
politics? There isn’t a definite answer to this question when there are
citizens, such as those whom make up Golos, who disagree with their governments
and want change that America’s help offers. It’s a very hot debate that doesn’t
look like it will end anytime soon. President Obama has already found a way to
fund the same amount of money to its Russian programs by privatizing the
financing. America has pushed its democratic values on countries for a very
long time now, and it doesn’t look like it will stop without a fight anytime
soon.
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