Shaping of Defensive Discourse of Democracy and American Diplomacy, 1914-1946

This article explores how democracy arose as an American policy agenda in the interwar era and the Second World War. Although democracy emerged as a meaningful agenda during the interwar era, I discovered that Americans??? stance toward democracy was in general defensive: they were mostly preoccupied with protecting democracy at home (or where it existed in Europe) rather than actively promoting it in the rest of the world. Having entered the war and fought against fascist forces, Americans became more confident in the security of their democracy at home and designed an ambitious plan to create a single world order based on capitalism and democracy. However, since the U.S. plan to promote democracy in the immediate postwar era still privileged national security concerns, it was applied only in former enemy countries. American policymakers, who not only focused on the relationship among the Great Powers, but also distrusted the ability of the former colonial peoples to govern themselves, embraced a general principle of trusteeship as a solution to appease both the colonized people???s nationalist fervor and the colonizer???s fierce determination to maintain its overseas possessions. I argue that the America???s defensive position in democracy promotion explains how the Korean people were able to play significant roles in shaping democratic ideas and institutions, despite the strong U.S. presence. The trusteeship plan, which had underestimated the Korean desire for national independence and capacity for nation-building, was therefore soon to be abandoned and the U.S. military government now began to consider promoting democracy in the southern half of Korea. U.S. military leaders and South Korean conservatives, who shared the leftist enemies, together turned South Korean democracy to the right side.clos