Democracy Denied, 1905-1915: Intellectuals and the Fate of Democracy by Charles Kurzman

Author:Charles Kurzman [Kurzman, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-06-11T05:37:11+00:00

The cunning of the Great Powers was on display in the democratic revolutions of the early and late twentieth century—cunning not just in the 258 | Erstwhile Allies

sense of cleverness, but also in the grander sense of alignment with the

“cunning of history,” G. W. F. Hegel’s phrase for the inevitable path that mortals follow without necessarily meaning to. Throughout the twentieth century, the Great Powers were obsessed with getting on the right side of history. Each of them claimed to represent the future of humankind, which justified their machinations beyond the terms of self-interest. The Great Powers nurtured elaborate ideological systems, from elementary school civics lessons to scholarly treatises such as this one, that reflected and promoted the public values of the state. This apparatus became ever more professionalized over the course of the twentieth century, generating specialized industries dedicated to the alignment of Great Power causes with the course of global history. By the end of the twentieth century, squadrons of economists, resource specialists, and technical experts of all sorts were dispatched to the capitals of the world along with military advisers and “intelligence” operatives to make history happen the way it was supposed to. The cunning of history was no longer left to chance; like every other aspect of human life, it was subjected to scientific scrutiny and professional manipulation. Global democracy movements had their own specialized corps of Great Power expertise, a field called “democracy promotion” that thrived during the democratic revolutions of the late twentieth century.

These industries marked a rise in reflexivity. Like all modern professions, they were supposed to learn from their mistakes and cast aside old assumptions in light of the latest findings. They did not always live up to this noble self-image, but new careers were continually created by acknowledging old errors and offering innovative solutions. Debates over these issues were not confined to the specialists. At the end of the twentieth century, they were also the subject of increased public discussion on talk radio and weblogs, in addition to and sometimes in place of the older print and broadcast media. Whether the topic was Great Power involvement in tsunami warning systems or Great Power involvement in democratization, citizens were called upon to be familiar with past successes and failures and to have opinions about current policy and future lines of action.

Around the world, democracy movements also became much more reflexive about relations with the Great Powers over the course of the twentieth century. Democracy movements before World War I were basically amateurs when it came to foreign affairs. Pavel Miliukov, for example, was in the United States on a lecture tour when the prodemocracy movement Aftermath and Implications | 259

began to take off in Russia in early 1905; rather than rush home or lobby foreign governments, he spent several months writing a book on the Russian crisis for American readers, then stopped off in Paris to arrange a French translation.31 In the late twentieth century, by contrast, democracy movements had a century of experience to draw on.

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