| Neoconservative support for democracy promotion originated in the 1960's and early 1970's within the American social democratic movement, in which three key future second-generation neoconservatives played leadership roles. As Penn Kemble, Joshua Muravchik, and Carl Gershman allied with, and gradually became part of, the neoconservative intellectual community in the early 1970's, they brought their focus on democracy promotion with them and became its most pro-active proponents within neoconservatism. Beginning in 1979, differences among the neoconservatives over democracy promotion emerged along generational lines. Second-generation neocons such as Kemble, Muravchik and Gershman continued to support democracy promotion, while first-generation neocons expressed either outright opposition or skepticism and wariness toward the perspective. While muted compared to future debates after the Cold War, the differences during the 1980's were substantive, and revolved around how the United States should respond to right-wing dictatorships in the third world given the ongoing struggle against Communism. |
