The Foreign Service Journal, June 2004

reflect new realities.” For Palmer, the new reality is that dictators must be replaced by democracies. He does not rule out the use of military power, most promisingly in the con- text of international law enforcement, but his focus is on using the full range of non-violent options available to the U.S. and its allies. Toward that end, Palmer is for flooding the world with democracy-supporting organizations, such as “Global Students for Democracy” and “Business Comm- unity for Democracy.” He would also strengthen a movement he has helped organize, the intergovern- mental Community of Democracies, and the nongovernmental World Movement for Democracy. And he would have the U.S. aim at a United Nations that is a “democracy club.” As those examples suggest, the “Palmer toolkit” properly empha- sizes multilateral tactics, as these are most likely to overcome reactions to the U.S. as a democracy “crusade” leader. One hopes that this part of his message, in particular, reaches a wide audience. Elizabeth Spiro Clark, a longtime member of the Journal ’s Editorial Board, was a Foreign Service officer from 1980 to 2000. A former fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, she is cur- rently an associate at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. J U N E 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 67 B O O K S Even where the U.S. must work with strongmen, diplomats can and should also support internal democratic movements, Palmer says.