Finding balance between liberal internationalism and realpolitik

MUCH has been said about US president Joe Biden's convening of a Democracy Summit, a gathering of self-proclaimed democratic governments that excluded China and Russia, and governments that Washington labelled as "autocracies".

It is not clear how exactly the Biden administration drew the line when it invited Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Serbia, Brazil, and Zambia, to the summit but excluded Bangladesh, Hungary, Turkey, Tunisia, Bhutan, Thailand and Singapore. Is Pakistan really more democratic than Singapore; Poland more liberal than Hungary; or Turkey less democratic than Brazil? And should the US be considered a model democracy? A recent Pew Research poll found only 17 per cent of non-Americans think so.

Figuring out the Biden administration's "democracy standards" is certainly important when it insists that the international system is today dominated by a struggle between democratic nations and authoritarian regimes, and that this ideological confrontation is now central to US foreign policy.