Promoting Democracy in the Post-Soviet Region (Studies in Political Science, 4)

This work examines the differences between the two main laws that fund democratization activities in the post-Soviet regions. Analysis of the program funded by the Freedom Support Act reveals the extent to which the State Department relies on private organizations to implement democratization programs, and suggests that democratization programs provide financial benefits primarily to American organizations. Then, with a combined issue network/statist argument, this study explains that an issue network, organized by the State Department to give the foreign policy community an active mission in the post-cold war environment, was the impetus behind the creation of programs like Community Connections. Because Community Connections have never faced financial or political scandal, and taps into an American priority of spreading democracy and capitalism, evaluation of CC was irrelevant to program expansion and continuation.