I have a new article out in the Journal of Cold War Studies: "The Committee for the Free World and the Defense of Democracy". This one has been a long time coming. This article provides the first comprehensive examination of the U.S.-based advocacy group the Committee for the Free World. Founded by Midge Decter in 1981, the CFW constituted a key foreign policy branch of the neoconservative movement in the late Cold War. The article traces the motivations for the CFW's establishment, activities, position within the neoconservative movement, and relations with the Reagan administration. It offers new insights into the history of neoconservatism, anti-communism, democracy promotion, and Ronald Reagan's foreign policy. The CFW was launched simultaneously in New York and London with roughly 400 members from the US, the UK, Canada, West Germany, France, Italy, Israel, Argentina, and Australia. Its members hailed from the worlds of politics, journalism, art, academia, and think tanks. The group sought to make the defense of democracy a core component of U.S. foreign policy. To the CFW, this was mainly about the defense of Western democracies against communism rather than democracy promotion in authoritarian states. Announcing the CFW to the world, Decter stated: "We are persuaded that the struggle for freedom may in the end be won or lost not on battlefields but in books, newspapers, broadcasts, classrooms, and in all public institutions where the determination to remain free is enhanced or undermined." By tracing the CFW's vision for defending democracy, the article unearths a key intellectual lineage for the more active democracy promotion agenda that would become a key guiding principle for U.S. foreign policy in the post–Cold War world. The article is a product of my postdoc at Georgetown University funded by Carlsberg Foundation. I conducted most of the research at the wonderful archives at The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and presented a draft version at a SHAFR conference several years ago. Thanks to everyone involved! https://lnkd.in/dCVamUdG
Great, congratulations! I look forward to reading.
Stærkt, Rasmus!!
Congratulations on the publication of your insightful article in the Journal of Cold War Studies. Your dedication to understanding and explaining the complexities of democracy and freedom during a pivotal era is truly commendable. "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." Let your research continue to enlighten and inspire.