Democratic powers unite!
Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff see evidence that the emerging democratic powers–including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa–are parting ways with Russia and China on human rights issues. Syria, they argue, highlighted this ongoing trend: The double veto has made international action in Syria all the more difficult. But it also shows that Russia and ...
Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff see evidence that the emerging democratic powers--including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa--are parting ways with Russia and China on human rights issues. Syria, they argue, highlighted this ongoing trend:
Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff see evidence that the emerging democratic powers–including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa–are parting ways with Russia and China on human rights issues. Syria, they argue, highlighted this ongoing trend:
The double veto has made international action in Syria all the more difficult. But it also shows that Russia and China are increasingly isolating themselves from a widening consensus that human-rights violations demand an international response. In one corner, established and newer democracies, more attuned to their voters at home, are under pressure to support movements for universal rights. In the opposite corner, China and Russia are silencing domestic dissent at home while trying to prop up comparable autocrats abroad. This divide became abundantly clear when India and South Africa disassociated themselves from their usual affiliates (BRICS) to support the Security Council resolution on Syria. Brazil likely would have joined its democratic cohorts if it were still on the council.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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