Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Blog 4: Russia Demands U.S. End Support of Democracy Groups


            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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