Autocracy promotion in the Americas? Scrutinizing the effect of China and Russia on democracy protection in Venezuela and Nicaragua

Despite sanctions, mediation initiatives and other democracy protection policies implemented by international actors, authoritarianism has consolidated in Venezuela and Nicaragua. This article scrutinizes two possible explanations for the failure of democracy protection: first, the role of China and Russia in helping regime survival, and second, cooperation problems among democracy promoters which increase the odds of regime survival. The article concludes that while China and Russia have been important sources of support for Venezuela and Nicaragua, they are ill-conceptualized as “autocracy promoters", and that their capacity to curb democracy protection policies has been hitherto limited. Instead, democracy protection has been mainly impaired by policy inconsistencies and weak commitment to multilateralism among democracy promoters. Policymakers are well advised to focus on strengthening the multilateral frameworks for democracy protection and promotion, rather than obsess with external interference. Yet, this might prove to be easier to say than do.