From Anthony Stahelski at The Moderate Voice:
We failed to transform South Vietnam into a democracy. The Nixon-Kissinger assumption that introducing capitalism into China would lead to democracy failed- China is now more menacingly dictatorial than ever before. Our attempts to help Russia become democratic in the early 1990s failed miserably.
Attempts to introduce democracy into the republics carved out of the former Yugoslavia have been marginal at best, and, despite our great sacrifice in blood and resources, neither Afghanistan nor Iraq have become democratic. Finally, despite the initial democratic idealism of Arab Spring, the only Arab country that has progressed toward democracy is Tunisia.
So should the United States give up nation building? Not necessarily.