| First, it is wrong to allow a radical regime to come to power, even if by democratic means, if it is certain to abrogate the constitution and become oppressive. In the United States, we do not worry about this, and therefore allow electoral participation by all parties. In some other countries, there is not enough stability to be sanguine. Thus, Turkey and Algeria were correct to disallow elections that would have put radical Islamicists in power; Germany was correct to ban neo- Nazi parties; the Israeli Supreme Court was right to ban Meir Kahane's party (which advocated the expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel); and the CIA was right to help the Christian Democrats wage electoral campaigns against the Communists in post-War Italy. Democracy is not a suicide pact, and depends on all parties being committed to civil liberties, the market place of ideas, the rule of law, and respect for minorities. Thus, I would say that we were correct to support authoritarian governments if the "popular front" opposition was dominated by Communists, and that, even if there were misjudgments, the instability created by the Second World War and the rush, by some European states, to divest themselves of Empire, made murkiness and guess-work inevitable....... |
