by Morton H. Halperin

About the author: Morton H. Halperin, former Washington director of the American Civil Liberties Union and a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was nominated but not confirmed for the position of assistant secretary of defense for democracy and peacekeeping by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the discrediting of communism as a rival model, more and more people are coming to view constitutional democracy as the only legitimate form of government. Around the globe, people are seeking to establish constitutional democracies. Many newly democratic governments are turning to the international community for support, and the international community is beginning to respond. The new democracies face internal and external enemies who oppose progress toward constitutional democracy that undermines entrenched personal...