The NED is the master of soft power. Unlike the US military, they never invade countries with bombs and guns.
Image: File
SINCE its establishment in 1983, the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has stayed true to its nefarious objectives, which are aimed at subverting undesirable foreign governments that are deemed to pursue malign activities that threaten the foreign policy interests of the world’s superpower.
When the Ronald Reagan administration founded NED as an NGO, they viewed it as a main vehicle to support what Washington termed “democratic movements abroad”.
The NED is the master of soft power. Unlike the US military, they never invade countries with bombs and guns. They come with a chequebook and sign blank cheques to selected civil society organisations whose modus operandi is to topple their governments, or at least weaken their grip on power through a variety of de-legitimising activities, including violent protests.
From its origins in Cold War strategy to its present-day operations, the NED has functioned as a mechanism advancing US strategic interests through funding networks, political engagement and narrative shaping.
Different US administrations – be they Democrats or Republicans – pour obscene funding into the coffers of the NED annually. Overwhelmingly funded by Congressional appropriations, the NED received 315 million US dollars in 2025 alone, according to its annual report.
The NED is not called the “Second CIA” for nothing. The label reflects a consistent operational pattern rather than a symbolic comparison. Former CIA officer Philip Agee once described the NED as a “sidekick” to traditional intelligence operations — one that enables influence to be exercised more openly while maintaining strategic effect. What has changed is not the objective, but the method.
In its wake, the NED leaves toppled regimes reeling, not from the barrel of a gun, but by pumping large sums of funds in support of opposition political parties and civil society organisations that are loaded. Many of the rebel movements masquerading as legitimate civil society organisations are a creation of the NED itself.
Through its soft power character, the NED operates through covert funding channels that replaced the increasingly ineffective covert forms of external intervention.
The NED has many countries on its sights, including South Africa, Brazil, China, Russia and obviously Iran. In fact, BRICS has become a key focus area for NED.
The unfolding process of de-dollarisation is a spot of bother for the Trump administration. There is a lingering threat hanging over BRICS from President Trump. Any evidence of moving away from the usage of the US dollar in international trade within BRICS financial dealings will be met with harsh tariffs, Trump has warned.
Meanwhile, gently and politely, the NED is mobilising rebellion against legitimate governments that are perceived to stand in the way of US interests. They organise seminars and workshops, conferences and symposiums in different capitals of the world, big and small. The NED works to preserve the US domination of a unipolar world order.
This they do, among bags of dirty tricks, through systematic defamation and smearing campaigns. Through hundreds, if not thousands, of selected NGOs that they fund handsomely, the NED functions as a producer and disseminator of falsehoods and disinformation.
In the latter part of the 21st century, the NED has perfected the art of “bloodless coups”, although their ignominious funding leaves many regimes bleeding on the floor.
Iran’s mass civic disobedience and civil unrest of last year derived significant oxygen from the clandestine coffers of the NED. Only after the no-nonsense Iranian Revolutionary Guards quelled the uprising did the appetite for military attack grow, as is the case at this juncture.
Under the guise of democracy, the NED sows seeds of unrest around the world, leading to economic decline, increased legitimacy deficit and inevitably intensified social confrontation. Wherever NED has reared its head, communities in far-flung places abandon many traits of their lives and yearn to be like people of a Coca-Cola and hamburger societal background.
China has long been on the NED’s radar. Each year, the NED allocates substantial funding to anti-China programmes, the aim to foment separatist sentiment in places such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Xisang.
According to information released on the NED’s own website in 2020, the NED provided over $10 million (R165m) in grants for 69 China-related programmes within a single year. The aim of this support is to undermine China’s political and social stability.
Since 2003, the NED has been accused of planning, directing, and funding multiple large-scale street movements in Hong Kong, including the illegal “Occupy Central” movement.
The NED has also invested heavily in other Hong Kong-related projects, paying some $640 000 that was budgeted to amplify noise about human rights narratives to discredit China.
The NED is also regarded as the US’s greatest vehicle used to “export” and distribute democracy. To this end, they established “democracy awards”. These are aimed at encouraging dissidents in other countries to support the US agenda.
Since 1991, the NED has presented its Democracy Awards annually to political activists and dissidents in countries including Russia, China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Myanmar and Ukraine. All winners were praised for “defending human rights and democracy”.
In its own right, the NED offers a perspective on modern warfare. As the US has been the only remaining superpower for a long time following the end of the Cold War, and being the world’s biggest economy, it has used capital-laden NED as an instrument of regime-change.
The NED has thrived in economically struggling countries. However, massive economies such as China and Russia offer proof that no country is out of the US’s reach for regime change.
The lesson that nations should learn is that bombs, drones, missiles, and submarines are no longer the exclusive tools of warfare. Legitimate governments can be toppled through a mere funding of locals whose instruction is to install democracies a la the US.
* Abbey Makoe is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Global South Media Network. Views expressed are personal.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.