A grand strategy narrative of democratic hope: legitimizing the Biden administration’s democracy versus autocracy framework

This article unpacks the Biden administration’s democracy versus autocracy framework by examining it as a grand strategy narrative and suggests that the administration sought to legitimize its framework by appealing to hope for democracy during a time of democratic crisis. While previous scholarship on the ideational dimensions of U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy tends to emphasize appeals to American exceptionalism and threat construction, this analysis finds representations of democratic hope as a crucial but overlooked element in how the Biden administration sought to construct and legitimate their strategic vision. Through Burke’s ‘dramatic pentad’, the analysis shows how representations of democratic hope acknowledge uncertainty while maintaining democratic possibilities, reinforce democratic values as strategic interests, and integrate domestic challenges into a broader narrative of global democratic advancement. By positioning democracy as superior to autocracy, the narrative served to legitimize America’s international leadership role during a period of democratic precarity.