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Chapter II. Champion Aspirations for Human Dignity

 Section C. The Way Ahead - 1.  Explaining the Goal:  Ending Tyranny

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             Tyranny is the combination of brutality, poverty, instability, corruption, and suffering,

             forged under the rule of despots and despotic systems.  People living in nations such as

             the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Burma,

             and Zimbabwe know firsthand the meaning of tyranny; it is the bleak reality they endure

             every day.  And the nations they border know the consequences of tyranny as well, for

             the misrule of tyrants at home leads to instability abroad.  All tyrannies threaten the

             world's interest in freedom's expansion, and some tyrannies, in their pursuit of WMD or

             sponsorship of terrorism, threaten our immediate security interests as well.

     

                                                                                                National Security Strategy    3

 

             Tyranny is not inevitable, and recent history reveals the arc of the tyrant's fate.  The 20th

             century has been called the "Democracy Century," as tyrannies fell one by one and

             democracies rose in their stead.  At mid-century about two dozen of the world's

             governments were democratic; 50 years later this number was over 120.  The democratic

             revolution has embraced all cultures and all continents.  

             

             Though tyranny has few advocates, it needs more adversaries.  In today's world, no

             tyrant's rule can survive without the support or at least the tolerance of other nations.  To

             end tyranny we must summon the collective outrage of the free world against the

             oppression, abuse, and impoverishment that tyrannical regimes inflict on their people ­

             and summon their collective action against the dangers tyrants pose to the security of the

             world.  

             

             An end to tyranny will not mark an end to all global ills.  Disputes, disease, disorder,

             poverty, and injustice will outlast tyranny, confronting democracies long after the last

             tyrant has fallen.  Yet tyranny must not be tolerated ­ it is a crime of man, not a fact of

             nature.

             

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