Freeexchange on Chris Coyne

The Economist blog, freeexchange, writes on a new paper by Chris on exporting democracy:

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY economist Chris Coyne, author of the forthcoming After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy, has a fascinating new working paper online [pdf] that deploys public choice guru Gordon Tullock's account of bureaucracy to explain why the failure of post-war reconstruction in Iraq is no surprise.

As this excerpt from freeexchange notes, Chris' paper considers a theme discussed at greater length in his book, After War, which comes out in November. Those who have not read Chris' work on this subject need to do so. His argument is among the most important on the question of exporting democracy and offers a powerful critique of the idea that we can simply democratize undemocratic nations at our pleasure.