If President Bush hopes to make good on his promise to bring democracy to the Arab world, he must rethink U.S. strategy, which overemphasizes civil society and economic development. Neither has caused much political liberalization in the Middle East, nor have more punitive measures. To promote Arab democracy, Washington needs a new approach: offering financial incentives for political reform.
Submitted by Omar N. (Mar. 20, 2009) on March 21, 2009 - 12:00am.
The intrinsic defect in all, particularly US, Western calls for Arab REFORM is that the term invariably implies a specific Western definition, or vision, of the term.
It is always assumed in Western circles that for Arab REFORM to be a genuine it should unmistakably follow a western interpretation of the term and include, primarily, matters and affairs that are NOT of Primary importance to Arabs!
To be more specific.
The always recurring Western interpretation of reform for the Arabs is that it shall necessarily include, as a PRIMARY objective a , preferably , "western style" democracy or , as a minimum, a native style which fulfills certain fundamental criteria.
Laudable and needed as any form of democracy is the whole issue, in Arab general consciousness, is that democracy is of secondary importance to NATIONAL SECURITY!
However since NATIONAL SECURITY inevitably invokes the Arab/Israeli conflict and, post US conquest of Iraq, the future of Arab/American relations is NOT an area in which common grounds could be consensually attained the different priorities of both camps will keep them apart as far as their respective and highly divergent interpretations of the term , reform, is concerned.
The Bush administration contends that the push for democracy in the Muslim world will improve U.S. security. But this premise is faulty: there is no evidence that democracy reduces terrorism. Indeed, a democratic Middle East would probably result in Islamist governments unwilling to cooperate with Washington.
The Middle East challenges facing Washington today have never been greater--but there remains a chance for peace. To secure it, the United States must stick with Iraq, pressure Iran into giving up its nukes, foster a moderate Palestinian leadership, and support Muslim reformers. Success in the region has never been more important.
Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired. It should renounce political intervention and encourage local development without trying to improve governance
Comments
ARAB reform
The intrinsic defect in all, particularly US, Western calls for Arab REFORM is that the term invariably implies a specific Western definition, or vision, of the term.
It is always assumed in Western circles that for Arab REFORM to be a genuine it should unmistakably follow a western interpretation of the term and include, primarily, matters and affairs that are NOT of Primary importance to Arabs!
To be more specific.
The always recurring Western interpretation of reform for the Arabs is that it shall necessarily include, as a PRIMARY objective a , preferably , "western style" democracy or , as a minimum, a native style which fulfills certain fundamental criteria.
Laudable and needed as any form of democracy is the whole issue, in Arab general consciousness, is that democracy is of secondary importance to NATIONAL SECURITY!
However since NATIONAL SECURITY inevitably invokes the Arab/Israeli conflict and, post US conquest of Iraq, the future of Arab/American relations is NOT an area in which common grounds could be consensually attained the different priorities of both camps will keep them apart as far as their respective and highly divergent interpretations of the term , reform, is concerned.