Drezner’s second point against Fareed Zakaria is that the illiberal democracies Zakaria warns of aren’t necessarily any more destabilizing than autocracies that develop into democracies gradually, without forceful intervention. That hardly negates Zakaria’s warnings about the dangers of excess optimism in our democratization efforts. I think Zakaria’s warnings against democratizing optimism need to be taken very seriously indeed. That doesn’t mean we can’t do anything to bring democracy to a conquered Iraq. In “After the War,” I talk about steps we can take. But Drezner is wrong to dismiss Zakaria’s ideas as “spectacularly wrong.” This democratization issue is going to be big. There are plenty of good arguments on all sides, and no easy answers. I look forward to Zakaria’s book.