What Explains Variations in Democracy Assistance Programs? A Quantitative Analysis

Why does the United States promote democracy in the ways that it does? The transnational delegation structure of democracy assistance creates incentives for democracy practitioners -- who comprise the field that I call the democracy establishment -- to promote democracy in certain ways over time. To obtain funding, members of the democracy establishment promote democracy in ways that are measurable and that are compatible with the regimes of recipient countries. A statistical analysis of an original dataset of democracy assistance projects supports this argument. The project contributes to the debate about how democracy can and should be promoted by describing and explaining how democracy assistance actually takes place. It also deepens our understanding of idea-driven networks, the international sources of domestic politics, and international delegation.