Giving the Middle East Democracy
I've been thinking about this for some time - can we really give a country like Iraq democracy? While I am still undecided if anyone is truly better off now with a post-Saddam Iraq, I am quite clear that no one can ever give anyone else democracy.
Just look at the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon - while committed leadership has played a key roll, the real fact is it took the people, literally millions of the country's 3.8 million citizens, standing up and saying "we're not going to take it any more! We want control of our country back NOW! No Syrian occupation. No Israeli occupation. No US occupation."
After World War I, most European countries were 'given' some form of parliamentary or democratic government and within 15 years most citizens were calling for strong leadership to fix the economic and social problems post-1929. Most were more than happy to return to some form of monarchy or dictatorship. The people couldn't be bothered with conducting the extensive negotiations required to arrive at the compromises that make democratic government work.
So why do we allow our own government to tell us that we will "free Iraq and give them democracy" with the promise that it will spread throughout the region and ultimately defeat those who use terrorism to turn back the clock on social progress? Most likely because we have nothing to feel good about related to the prospects for peace in the region stemming from the Balkans to Western China. Therefore we hope that we are doing the right thing and that it will give us what we really desire, our own security, a peace of mind from the fear of terrorism.
I predict that anything other than the Iraqi people (or any people for that matter) taking control of their own government will end in failure. Sure, we need to be there like an older, more experienced sibling, one who knows that the young have to do it their own way, by making their own mistakes, but maybe they can learn something from our example. We can provide the support they ask for but we can never superimpose our approach to governance onto another country.
One other note about the whole Hariri/Cedar Revolution/Lebanon thing - I find myself wondering if too much power is not being invested in an individual if through nothing other than the cult of martyrdom and personality. There is something in the public presentation that reminds just slightly of Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Mao, and the like.
Just look at the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon - while committed leadership has played a key roll, the real fact is it took the people, literally millions of the country's 3.8 million citizens, standing up and saying "we're not going to take it any more! We want control of our country back NOW! No Syrian occupation. No Israeli occupation. No US occupation."
After World War I, most European countries were 'given' some form of parliamentary or democratic government and within 15 years most citizens were calling for strong leadership to fix the economic and social problems post-1929. Most were more than happy to return to some form of monarchy or dictatorship. The people couldn't be bothered with conducting the extensive negotiations required to arrive at the compromises that make democratic government work.
So why do we allow our own government to tell us that we will "free Iraq and give them democracy" with the promise that it will spread throughout the region and ultimately defeat those who use terrorism to turn back the clock on social progress? Most likely because we have nothing to feel good about related to the prospects for peace in the region stemming from the Balkans to Western China. Therefore we hope that we are doing the right thing and that it will give us what we really desire, our own security, a peace of mind from the fear of terrorism.
I predict that anything other than the Iraqi people (or any people for that matter) taking control of their own government will end in failure. Sure, we need to be there like an older, more experienced sibling, one who knows that the young have to do it their own way, by making their own mistakes, but maybe they can learn something from our example. We can provide the support they ask for but we can never superimpose our approach to governance onto another country.
One other note about the whole Hariri/Cedar Revolution/Lebanon thing - I find myself wondering if too much power is not being invested in an individual if through nothing other than the cult of martyrdom and personality. There is something in the public presentation that reminds just slightly of Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Mao, and the like.
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.
Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks, 1965
posted by xj at 5:45 AM
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