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.The threat to democracy posed by poverty and inequality teaches thatthe singular act of voting is insufficient to build an inclusive polity.There ismuch that can be learned from this outcome to prevent its recurrence infuture U.S.efforts at state building.Spontaneous LawfulnessReflecting the premise that conformity with the rule of law arises sponta-neously in a healthy society, the implicit U.S.foreign policy goals in the Philip-pines during the forties and fifties were economic, military, and politicaldecentralization and democratization.U.S.policy advisers focused on consti-tutional reforms to defend the rights of assembly, speech, and property, buthave always stopped short of advocating radical regime change or comprehen-sive redistribution that would change the coalitional structure of authority.The American concept of freedom as spontaneous obedience to law doeslittle to inspire those who live in societies where the rich are few, the poor aremany, and where stultifying traditions perpetuate inequality.In developingnations where social inequality is deeply entrenched, the rich can capture thestate and weaken constitutional reforms.Underpaid state officials can bebribed, and laws circumvented.In the Philippines, U.S.policymakers have subscribed to the belief that improvements in landlord-tenant relationships would have to be accom-plished within the existing system and slowly, by patient administration, safe-guarding the peasant rights, and by popular education. 36 Yet without radicalredistribution such as occurred in South Korea, Taiwan, China, andJapan what could the poor, scratching out a living from two hectares of aridsoil owned by a distant landlord, expect from spontaneous social action,other than exploitation? No wonder, then, that without reforms aimed atsocial justice, the showcase of democracy that America sought from its poli-cies in the Philippines never materialized. 07-7556-0 ch7.qxd 5/9/08 9:54 PM Page 101The United States as Master Builder in the Philippines 101More than a patchwork of rules and regulations is necessary to ensure thatsocial norms adapt to formal democratic institutions.According to the Philip-pine author and diplomat R.S.Manglapus, writing at the peak of third worlddisillusion with cold war models, There is at present little enthusiasm in Asiafor the American example; for it is apparent that patchwork democracyrequires conditions which do not exist in the developing world. In his friendlytirade he concludes that the poor hope for an ideology that can show the wayto a sustained social revolution that will lift men to a level where they maybegin to enjoy the freedom and the privilege to be spontaneous. 37Democracy Promotion and the Missing MiddleA definition of democracy that is largely procedural and that relies on insti-tutions that sustain the rule of law, such as the separation of powers, fre-quently fails to inspire third world populations.People in developing nationsare much more likely to see these institutions and procedural mechanisms asthe end of a process that begins with social democracy, access to basic eco-nomic independence, and the spread of endowments such as education,health care, land, roads, sanitation, and physical security.Few third worldleaders view socialism and democracy as opposites and many have espousedsocialism to attain democracy.Thus, divergent views of the paths toward cre-ating democracy existed between U.S.-backed moderates, the products ofmodernization theory with its notions of gradualism, and third world lead-ers schooled in the language of social revolution.The procedural, rule-basedvision generally appeals to largely middle-class constituents whose basichousehold needs have already been met.But the global middle classes consti-tute fewer than 7 percent of the world s people.38The pro-market stabilization packages for foreign nations advocated byWashington in the 1980s and 1990s have reduced budgets for education,which reduced the numbers of educated adults, shrinking the middle class.The missing middle in the global population profile reduces the coalitions fordemocracy.What good are courts that protect property rights to those whocannot afford to pay lawyers or bribe judges? Institutions that are not pro-tected from influence cannot be trusted to ensure the rights of the poor.The founders of American democracy believed that independence ofsocial status was a prerequisite for independence in action and thought; theyassumed that the prerogatives of the bureaucrats and the jealousies of themasses were the greatest threats to stability.39 But where only the rich fewhave access to such endowments, putting property rights or the rule of law in 07-7556-0 ch7.qxd 5/9/08 9:54 PM Page 102102 The Economic Failure of Client Regimesplace first can only ensure the entrenchment of the status quo.Explanationsfor why the United States was spared such entrenchment politics point inmany directions.Among the most popular reasons given for the preservationof a broad base for American democracy is the existence of the frontier, whichallowed many average Americans to become property owners and the factthat the agricultural endowment of the Northeast was favorable to familyfarming, which gave the independent farmer a secure economic foundation.These economic preconditions for U.S.-style democracy were not prevalentin the Philippines or in South Vietnam, another third world setting for a U.S.effort to create a showcase of democracy. 08-7556-0 ch8.qxd 5/9/08 9:55 PM Page 1038Illegitimate Offspring:South VietnamThe United States has thus far refused to face up to the fact of revolutionitself, and has, therefore, failed to offer its own brand of revolution as analternative. Bernard Fall, The Two Viet-Nams (1963)But it is true that the U.S.administrations at the time severelyunderestimated the need for a legitimate government in South Vietnamand instead assumed that a shadow government and military force couldwin the day. Melvin Laird, Iraq: Learning the Lessons of Vietnam, Foreign Affairs (2005)A state exists chiefly in the hearts and minds of its people; if they do notbelieve it is there, no logical exercise will bring it to life. Joseph R.Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (1970)South Vietnam, like the Philippines, was the object of a monumentalU.S.effort at nation building.It was a U.S.foreign policy priority for nearlytwo decades and the largest recipient of U.S.aid from 1954 to 1973.Createdby the Eisenhower administration, the country s raison d être was to serve asa bulwark against Communist expansion and.a proving ground fordemocracy in Asia.Originating from the exigencies of the cold war, theexperiment in nation-building tapped the wellsprings of American idealismand took on many of the trappings of a crusade. 1 South Vietnam was, in thewords of Senator John F.Kennedy, our offspring. 2Nevertheless, neither a liberal democratic state nor an ally capable ofdefending America s long-term interests emerged in South Vietnam.WhenU.S.troops left the country in 1973, the benefits of the project, which cost theAmerican public $150 billion, were apparent only to those who still believedin the domino theory of international relations.3 The promise of a fair and103 08-7556-0 ch8.qxd 5/9/08 9:55 PM Page 104104 The Economic Failure of Client Regimesequitable government that was responsive to the needs of the Vietnamesepeople remained unfulfilled
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