This book investigates the relationship between democracy promotion and US national security strategy through an examination of the Reagan administration's attempt to launch a global campaign for democracy in the early 1980s, which culminated in the foundation of the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983.

Through a case study of the formation and early operations of the National Endowment for Democracy under the Reagan administration, based on primary documents from both the national security bureaucracy and the private sector, this book shows that while democracy promotion...