Friday, December 23, 2005

Democracy

Via the National Review, military historian Victor Davis Hanson explains why -- regretfully -- there isn't a robust constituency for Arab democracy in America.

This is lamentable because democracy in Arabia is the only way to ensure global security.

Mr. Hanson writes:

In short, the promotion of democracy has been an orphan policy, without any parentage of past support or present special interests. It proved to be easily caricatured all at once as naïve by the right and imperialistic on the left. Thus on the war The American Conservative is now almost indistinguishable from the Nation.

Only by understanding this labyrinth of competing interests can we see why the most successful election in Middle East history, birthed by the United States, gained almost no immediate thanks or praise, here or abroad.

We don’t need Peoria or even a struggling Eastern European democracy, just the foundations for something that can allow Muslims to follow the lead of those who participate in government in India, Malaysia, or Turkey and accept the rule of law — and don’t strap on bombs to kill Americans with either government help or hurrahs from a disenfranchised mob. And we see results already right before our eyes. After all, there are really only two countries in the Middle East where thousands fight each day against Islamic terrorists who threaten their newly-won freedom — the legitimate governments in Kabul and Baghdad.

1 comment:

Knee Jerk said...

PR,

It is indeed a daunting prospect for Demos to flourish in that most barren of lands.
I suspect it has much more to do with the way these societies are organised and indeed the way they practise the main religion - Islam.
The overweening presence of Islam in the daily fabric has its own ramifications.
The concept of the Islamic Ummah is basically a supranational identity that does away with the concept of the nation state. When faced with an either or choice, most devout Muslims will obviously plump for the Ummah. This dream of a pan Islamic empire recognising no territorial boundaries is what is the main hurdle to organising societies in insular moulds.
Unless religion is relegated to the private sphere, this conflict is not about to go away soon.
This is largely what has happened in India.

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