Wilsonian Moment in US foreign relations
Like Woodrow Wilson, later American presidents, including Barack Obama, have had their say in inspiring popular movements for democracy in other countries.
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AMERICAN diplomacy has exhibited a radical and revolutionary edge during two momentous eras - Spring of 1919 and Arab Spring of 2010 - by advocating an end to colonial empires in the former case, and promoting democracies over dictatorships in the latter. Woodrow Wilson's policy of championing independence for colonised people in the Spring of 1919 is being replayed under President Barack Obama's strategy of supporting popular public demand to replace Middle East dictators with democratic regimes during the Arab Spring in 2010 and beyond.
Mr Wilson's rhetoric in support of self-determination for colonised countries produced the immediate effect of radicalising freedom movements in Korea, China, Vietnam, India and Egypt, and other colonised spaces in 1919.
Mr Obama acted like Mr Wilson (US president 1913-1921) when he told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Feb 1, 2011, to step down, as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians clamoured for democracy in Cairo's Tahrir Square. He reversed a 30-year US policy to support Egyptian dictators, and encouraged aspirations for democracy across the Middle East. We can call it the "Obama Moment" that stimulated a string of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.
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