Democratic governments such as the United States encourage the growth of democracy in developing nations because they believe in the political and ideological goals of democracy itself. But the United States also promotes democracy in the hope that it will lead to greater economic growth and political stability in the developing world. In the words of President George W. Bush, “by promoting democracy we lay the foundation for a better and more stable world.”

However, promoting democracy in the developing world is something of a “chicken-and-the-egg” problem: Advocates of democracy believe it will strengthen stability and economic development in poor nations, but skeptics point out that democracy is most successful in nations that have already achieved economic and political stability.

David W. Yang, executive director of the Institute for Global Democracy, sums up the ways in which...