US Army-Funded Study Suggests Cutting 'Democracy Assistance' to Russia

A new study sponsored in part by the US military found that focus groups in post-Soviet countries had negative or at best skeptical views of US foreign policy, particularly when it comes to political influence.

A new focus group-based study published in Newsweek, in part supported by US Army research facilities, found that people in post-Soviet countries including Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan have overall positive views of the US economy and political system, but skeptical or negative views of its foreign policy.

Based on the results of the study, the authors, sociology professors Theodore P. Gerber and Jane Zavisca, concluded that US government "democracy promotion" programs in the area have been ineffective, and that the US "should scale back the type of democracy promotion that looks like meddling." The report does not focus on why "directly supporting local political NGOs and oppositional movements" looks like what it calls meddling.

"The American way of life could be made a positive institutional model that ultimately encourages organic movements for change untarnished by the stain of foreign interference," Gerber and Javisca wrote.

Gerber and Javisca also looked at the focus groups' support of political NGOs, which were overall negative, and in Ukraine "mixed views" were expressed, according to the report.

According to the authors, the negative views of US foreign policy are in part the result of what they call "the Russian critique" of US foreign policy with regards to "democracy assistance."

The authors then recommend backtracking to older sorts of "soft power" including cultural and academic exchanges, rather than through political NGOs. The report does not touch on the political implications of said NGOs other than what it calls "American democracy assistance."