Forty years ago, foreign aid aiming to promote democracy in other countries did not exist. Today, states and international organizations spend billions of dollars each year to promote democratic transition and consolidation abroad. This book seeks to understand how democracy assistance has evolved over that time. It is not the first book to explore the spread of democracy promotion at the end of the twentieth century. Where it parts ways with previous studies, however, is in its focus on how states aid democracy, rather than why and to what effect they do so.

The analysis presented in this book suggests that today many government programs seeking to aid democracy abroad are not designed to confront dictators. Today's democracy-assistance activities emphasize activities, such as in programs supporting local governance and women's representation, that do not threaten the survival of autocrats in at least the short term. They contrast with the more confrontational aid to dissidents, political parties, and trade unions that dominated the early era of democracy assistance. What explains the taming of democracy assistance?

Answering that question matters for several reasons. First, there is concrete evidence that states are likely to adopt the policies, such as gender quotas, and practices, such as election observation, encouraged via democracy promotion. Understanding how states promote democracy thus helps us understand some of the sources of political change in the developing world.