It is always explicit or implicit in the rhetoric of Western foreign policy that Western states aim to promote their grand principles of democracy, peace, human rights and overseas development.
However, in truth these same Western states are systematic violators of these principles and of international law. They are consistent condoners of rights abuses and key allies of repressive and dictatorial regimes.
There has long been an ignominious association between ‘democratically elected’ Western governments and ‘dictatorial regimes’ around the world. When benefit is the axiom around
which politics in the West is conducted, international law, principles and ‘ethical’ foreign policies are conveniently discarded.
In this booklet we attempt to throw some light on a more realistic viewpoint about western foreign policy. We hope to illustrate that all people – whether objective observers, fierce critics or apologists for individual western leaders such George W Bush, Tony Blair or indeed Barack Obama – need to look beyond the man, beyond any particular administration and, indeed in some cases, to look beyond the state...
Read more: http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/images/PDFs/Supporting_Dictatorship.pdf
