Editing Neoconservatism (section)

=== Jeane Kirkpatrick ===
{{main|Jeane Kirkpatrick}}
[[File:Od jeane-kirkpatrick-official-portrait 1-255x301.jpg|thumb|[[Jeane Kirkpatrick]]]]
A theory of neoconservative foreign policy during the final years of the Cold War was articulated by [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]] in "[[Dictatorships and Double Standards]]",<ref>Jeane Kirkpatrick, J (November 1979). [http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/dictatorships--double-standards-6189 "Dictatorships and Double Standards"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204172141/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/dictatorships--double-standards-6189 |date=4 February 2011 }}, ''Commentary Magazine'' 68, No. 5.</ref> published in ''[[Commentary Magazine]]'' during November 1979. Kirkpatrick criticized the foreign policy of [[Jimmy Carter]], which endorsed [[détente]] with the Soviet Union. She later served the Reagan Administration as Ambassador to the United Nations.<ref>Noah, T. (8 December 2006). [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2006/12/jeane_kirkpatrick_realist.html Jeane Kirkpatrick, Realist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925182713/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2006/12/jeane_kirkpatrick_realist.html |date=25 September 2018 }}. ''Slate Magazine''. Retrieved 8 July 2012.</ref>

==== Skepticism towards democracy promotion ====
{{see also|Authoritarian conservatism}}
In "Dictatorships and Double Standards", Kirkpatrick distinguished between [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] regimes and the [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] regimes such as the Soviet Union. She suggested that in some countries democracy was not tenable and the United States had a choice between endorsing authoritarian governments, which might evolve into democracies, or [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] regimes, which she argued had never been ended once they achieved totalitarian control. In such tragic circumstances, she argued that allying with authoritarian governments might be prudent. Kirkpatrick argued that by demanding rapid [[liberalization]] in traditionally [[Autocracy|autocratic]] countries, the Carter administration had delivered those countries to Marxist–Leninists that were even more repressive. She further accused the Carter administration of a "double standard" and of never having applied its rhetoric on the necessity of liberalization to [[Communist state|communist governments]]. The essay compares traditional autocracies and Communist regimes: {{blockquote|[Traditional autocrats] do not disturb the habitual rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal relations. Because the miseries of traditional life are familiar, they are bearable to ordinary people who, growing up in the society, learn to cope.}}
{{blockquote|[Revolutionary Communist regimes] claim jurisdiction over the whole life of the society and make demands for change that so violate internalized values and habits that inhabitants flee by the tens of thousands.}}

Kirkpatrick concluded that while the United States should encourage liberalization and democracy in autocratic countries, it should not do so when the government risks violent overthrow and should expect gradual change rather than immediate transformation.<ref name="nprkirkpatrick">{{cite news |title=Jeane Kirkpatrick and the Cold War (audio) |publisher=NPR |date=8 December 2006 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6599937 |access-date=16 August 2007 |archive-date=6 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406213955/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6599937 |url-status=live }}</ref> She wrote: "No idea holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the belief that it is possible to democratize governments, anytime and anywhere, under any circumstances ... Decades, if not centuries, are normally required for people to acquire the necessary disciplines and habits. In Britain, the road [to democratic government] took seven centuries to traverse. ... The speed with which armies collapse, bureaucracies abdicate, and social structures dissolve once the autocrat is removed frequently surprises American policymakers".<ref name="econkirkpatrick">{{cite news|title=Jeane Kirkpatrick|newspaper=The Economist|date=19 December 2006|url=http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8447241|access-date=16 August 2007|archive-date=20 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120044855/http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8447241|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{anchor|Poland}}