The Empire Has No Clothes: America's Democratic Sermons and the Authoritarian Boomerang

Image: Christopher Penler / shutterstock.com

For decades, the United States stood on the world stage delivering sermons on democracy, capitalism, and human rights. It lectured nations into adopting its model under the banner of American exceptionalism. In 2025, a startling spectacle emerges: the nation that proclaimed itself democracy's global arbiter now displays the very symptoms of authoritarianism it once denounced.

The American Gospel: A Sermon of Freedom

American exceptionalism has fuelled US foreign policy for over a century. It is a story of a nation uniquely devoted to liberty, a ‘shining city upon a hill’ destined to lead the world toward democracy. As one scholar notes, American exceptionalism carries “a special responsibility to exert global leadership…promote democracy and human rights.” This belief justified countless interventions, sanctions, and foreign policy doctrines.

The messianic impulse peaked after the Cold War. The Soviet Union's collapse was framed as democracy's ultimate triumph. The ‘end of history’ was proclaimed. From boardrooms to United Nations halls, the gospel of free markets and free elections was preached with unwavering conviction. President Ronald Reagan revived a moralised foreign policy that cast the United States as democracy's divinely favoured guardian—a nation ‘set apart’ to confront tyranny. Reagan's rhetoric made democracy promotion not only a strategic objective but a patriotic duty, fusing national identity with global mission. As Reagan himself declared, “We want to promote democracy, because it is right.”

Beneath this righteous facade lies a history that contradicts America's stated ideals.

A History of Hypocrisy: Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Since World War II, whilst lecturing the world on democracy, America engineered the downfall of democratically elected governments that challenged its interests. The CIA became the instrument of a foreign policy that preached democracy whilst actively subverting it. The record is damning. This list is not exhaustive. Historians have documented nearly 400 US military interventions throughout American history. The pattern is unmistakable: when democracy conflicted with American interests or Cold War paranoia, democracy was expendable.

Henry Kissinger's admission to Nixon about the Chilean coup captures the duplicity: “We didn't do it. I mean we helped them…created the conditions as great as possible.” A public face of democratic idealism masked a shadow reality of ruthless pragmatism. In Indonesia, the US provided lists of suspected communists to be killed in one of the 20th century's worst mass murders. In Argentina, the military junta believed it had explicit US approval for its ‘Dirty War’, with Kissinger again playing a central role.

The justifications were always identical: fighting communism, protecting American interests, preventing instability. The results were consistently catastrophic. Torture, disappearances, death squads, and decades of authoritarian rule became the legacy of American ‘democracy promotion’.

To be fair, the United States has at times supported genuine democratic transitions, particularly in post-war Germany and Japan, and through diplomatic pressure on authoritarian allies in the 1980s. However, these instances are exceptions that prove the rule. They are vastly outnumbered by cases where strategic and economic interests routinely trumped democratic principles, often with devastating consequences for the countries involved.

The Authoritarian Boomerang: Chickens Coming Home to Roost

The tools America used to undermine democracies abroad have now turned inward. A recent survey of over 500 political scientists revealed a “precipitous drop” in assessments of US democracy, with many concluding the nation is on a “fast slide into what's called 'competitive authoritarianism.’”

Trump's second-term actions mirror the authoritarian playbook America once wrote for others. Attacks on media and threats to revoke broadcast licenses mirror Viktor Orbán's tactics in Hungary, a leader Trump openly admires. The mass firing of federal workers echoes the purges carried out by Latin American military juntas America supported. Weaponising the Justice Department to target opponents—indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey—recalls the political prosecutions of the 'Dirty Wars' America funded in Argentina and El Salvador.

Over 340 former intelligence and national security officials warn the US is “on a trajectory” toward authoritarian rule, with democratic backsliding “accelerating.” These are not partisan figures, but career professionals who have spent decades analysing threats to democracy around the world. Now they apply those frameworks to their own country. As one former CIA analyst observed: “The speed with which we have devolved away from a fully functioning democracy is startling. In most cases, it takes longer than nine months to get where we are.”

The indicators are textbook: expansion of executive power, politicisation of civil service, erosion of judicial independence, weakening of Congress, manipulation of electoral systems, and the undermining of press freedom.

The World Is Watching: The End of American Exceptionalism?

The world has stopped listening to America's sermons. The hypocrisy has become too glaring. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found US image declining in many nations, with majorities in 19 of 24 countries lacking confidence in Trump's leadership. Most international respondents describe him as “arrogant and dangerous,” whilst few see him as honest. America is losing its moral authority and, with it, its ability to lead.

The question one headline posed cuts to the core: “Is America Seriously Going to Lecture Other Countries About Democracy Now?” The answer, increasingly, is no. Nations once targeted by American intervention now watch with a sense of alarm and grim satisfaction as the empire's clothes are stripped away. Countries told they weren't ‘ready’ for democracy witness the supposed beacon of freedom teetering toward authoritarianism.

The irony cuts deep. America overthrew Mossadegh to protect oil interests, then spent decades condemning Iran's authoritarianism. It backed brutal military dictatorships across Latin America, then lectured those countries about human rights. It provided kill lists for Indonesian massacres, then positioned itself as humanity's champion. Now, as it slides toward the authoritarianism it once exported, the world watches with a sense of tragic inevitability.

Conclusion: A Cautionary Tale

The United States now confronts a profound irony. For decades, it positioned itself as democracy's champion whilst systematically undermining democratic governments that threatened its interests. The hypocrisy was always evident to those on the receiving end of American intervention—the families of the disappeared in Argentina, the survivors of massacres in Guatemala and El Salvador, the citizens of Iran still living under the authoritarian regime that followed the CIA-backed coup.

What has changed is not the contradiction itself, but its visibility. As America exhibits the authoritarian tendencies it once condemned in others, the gap between rhetoric and reality has become impossible to ignore. Nations that were lectured about democracy now watch as the lecturer dismantles democratic norms at home. The moral authority that once gave apparent weight to American pronouncements has evaporated.

Yet even as America's domestic crisis unfolds, its problematic global role continues in a new guise. The Trump administration is actively bolstering the move towards autocracy in various parts of the world, lending legitimacy to authoritarian leaders and undermining democratic institutions abroad. The capacity to do harm has not diminished—it has merely transformed. Venezuela may well be next for American gun boat diplomacy.

The question is no longer whether America can credibly lecture others about democracy. That ship has sailed, weighed down by decades of coups, death squads, and support for dictators. The question now is whether the United States will learn from its own contradictions—or become a cautionary tale studied by those who once looked to it for guidance. History has handed the United States a rare chance to confront its past and align its power with its principles. Whether it seizes that opportunity will determine if America remains a model or becomes a warning for democracies worldwide.

Other articles by this author:

Weaponisation of Law: Assault on Democracy (10-minute read)

A Vicious Spiral: Political Violence in Fragile Democracies (3-minute read)

US Bars Palestinian Delegation: A Dangerous Precedent for UN Universality (3-minute read)

Reluctant Truth-Tellers and Institutional Fragility (3-minute read)

From Democratic Leader to Autocratic Example: The Global Impact of U.S. Backsliding (3-minute read)

Countering Human Rights Regression to Safeguard Peace (10-minute read)

Jordan Ryan is a member of the Toda International Research Advisory Council (TIRAC) at the Toda Peace Institute, a Senior Consultant at the Folke Bernadotte Academy and former UN Assistant Secretary-General with extensive experience in international peacebuilding, human rights, and development policy. His work focuses on strengthening democratic institutions and international cooperation for peace and security. Ryan has led numerous initiatives to support civil society organisations and promote sustainable development across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He regularly advises international organisations and governments on crisis prevention and democratic governance.