"
when I was first a member of parliament
there was a view in foreign policy that you dealt with countries on the basis of
whatever they did in their own country was up to them
. I think what we are learning today is that there is not stability of any true long term kind without democratic rights for free people to decide their government. That does not mean to say we try and interfere with every state round the world but it does mean that there has been a shift
in the thinking that is informing our view of how we make progress.
The people want the freedom. What we recognise
today is that we are not going to have our security unless they get that freedom
. Democracy is something that should unite us whatever political position we have."
Tony Blair
The doctrine of the "new interventionism"
No longer is it acceptable to deal with dictators or hardline regimes, so long as they don't directly threaten the West: in future they have to be confronted and democracy has to be spread by any means possible
This is, quite clearly, a restless, hugely ambitious and no doubt at times perilous world view.
More than the usual summit rhetoric?
Blair's 'international community' doctrine
The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency