International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Number 2, Autumn/Winter 2006 MILITARY INTERVENTION AND PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRATIZATION Frederic S. Pearson, Scott Walker, and Stephanie Stern A bstract Even before the Iraq war of 2003, a body of literature was developing concerning the possibility of implanting democracy in developing states. Recent works by Mark Peceny (1999a and 1999b) suggest that those U.S. military interventions that specifically promote "free and fair elections" have frequently resulted in remarkably resilient new democracies. We empirically evaluate the track record of liberalizing interventions, focusing on countries Peceny deems to be cases of successfully imposed democracy. We find that when factors such as human, political, and civil rights, as well as judicial independence are used as measures of democratic success, the “forcing them to be free” strategy does not clearly emerge as an agent for democratic transformation. Introduction The idea of external imposition of democracy goes back to the origins of liberal theory in international politics, and has been especially prevalent in U.S. foreign policy making. Examples include Woodrow Wilson’s attempts to draw “self determination” maps for Eastern Europe following World War I, the Kennedy-Johnson forceful “nation- building” strategies in Vietnam, and, more recently, George W. Bush’s apparent belief that Iraq and Afghanistan can be remade in a Western democratic image. This is not to say, of course, that U.S. action has always matched its rhetoric or that there has been consistent support for democracies over autocracies. In U.S. policy, lip service is frequently paid to democratization, as in Kennedy-Johnson’s Alliance for Progress in Latin America and Clinton Administration preferences for “big emerging markets,” but when put to the test it is not always clear that democracy is the top U.S. priority. How sincerely would Washington abide by democratic principles if free elections brought a confirmed or alleged “leftist” to power (e.g., Chile and Dominican Republic during past decades), or an Islamic theocracy (e.g., Algeria), or even an assertive nationalist (e.g., Iran in 1953, Haiti)? It has been argued that American preference for democrats gives way to acceptance of autocrats before acceptance of radicals (Barnet, 1968).