Western Narratives on 'Saving Democracy' Overlook Their Own Imperial Legacy
A recent Financial Times article highlights a selection of new political books dedicated to "saving liberal democracy." The focus invariably lands on internal fissures or rival ideologies as the primary threats. This selective amnesia paints a picture where Western nations are always the benevolent guardians of liberty, never the architects of its demise in other sovereign states. Consider, for
instance, the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. The U.S. government, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, overtly supported the military takeover that toppled the democratically elected government of João Goulart. Documents released decades later, including tapes of Johnson's conversations, confirm the extensive U.S. military and diplomatic assistance provided to the coup plotters, resulting in a
two-decade authoritarian rule that suppressed civil liberties and human rights. This intervention, actively undermining a functioning democracy for Cold War geopolitical aims, is rarely mentioned when discussing the West's commitment to democratic principles. The irony deepens when these same publications decry threats to democracy while simultaneously defending military buildups or covert
operations targeting governments deemed "undemocratic" by Western standards. In 2023, the U.S. spent an estimated $886 billion on its military, dwarfing the defense budgets of most nations combined, often deployed to project influence into regions where its definition of democracy is selectively applied. The commitment to democracy abroad appears conditional, dependent on alignment with strategic