Dimitri K. Simes

Founding President of The Nixon Center

Publisher of its foreign policy bi-monthly magazine

Before the establishment of the center, Simes served as chairman of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Programs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Simes was born in Moscow and immigrated to the United States in 1973.

Debates Featuring Dimitri K. Simes

Spreading Democracy in the Middle East is a Bad Idea

With Liz Cheney, Flynt Leverett, Danielle Pletka, Natan Sharansky, Dimitri K. Simes, Shibley Telhami

September 18, 2007

One of the key justifications for the invasion of Iraq was spreading democracy in the Middle East. Proponents of democratization argue that the United States has a moral responsibility to empower those seeking freedom around the world, while others question the legitimacy of a governance structure imposed by outsiders. Is spreading democracy in the Middle East a bad idea?