The Reagan administration not only pursued democratization in hostile states but also pressured allied authoritarian regimes to reform and occasionally supported “soft” regime changes to defuse internal tensions in countries that were important for U.S. strategic interests. The convergence between mid-level officials, autonomous democracy promoters, and key policymakers was most fruitful when these groups believed that U.S. interests would be vulnerable without political intervention. Evaluations of the stability and legitimacy of the existing governments influenced judgments about whether to pursue regime reform, either by keeping the existing elites in power within new democratic structures or by seeking to empower opposition groups and facilitating the rise of new elites. A critique of this approach is an essential addition to our understanding of the Reagan administration’s policies vis-à-vis allied states.

中文翻译：

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重新评估民主促进

里根政府不仅在敌对国家推行民主化，还向盟国威权政权施压进行改革，并偶尔支持“软”政权更迭，以化解对美国战略利益重要的国家的内部紧张局势。中层官员、自治民主推动者和主要决策者之间的融合是最富有成效的，因为这些团体认为如果没有政治干预，美国的利益就会变得脆弱。对现有政府稳定性和合法性的评估影响了对是否进行政权改革的判断，要么通过让现有精英在新的民主结构中掌权，要么通过寻求授权反对派团体和促进新精英的崛起。