Can a Democracy be Successful in the Arab World - Essay Example

Can A Democracy Be Successful In The Arab World Obviously, the situation existing in the Arab world is not adequate, as it just means delay of significant changes in all Arab politics. The peoples that live in the Arab world cannot suffer infinitely, all the more they are provided with the possibility to watch on TV and estimate the western lifestyles, culture and civilization, that could be brought to them with industrialization and globalization. Unfortunately, democratic changes integrated from within, seem to be the only variant that is possible to be implemented. Despite of the fact that the USA declared itself to be a missionary bringing democracy to the developing countries; it should not be a dominating force bringing the changes. There are the points that make evident the necessity of the changes to be implemented in the countries of Arab world. These points are as follows: 1. The community of Arab peoples, consisting of 22 nations and 280 million people, produced in 1999 gross domestic product less that this of Spain. 2. Income of the average citizen of the countries of Arab world is just 13.9% of the average citizen of OECD countries. 3. only 0.5% of the population uses the Internet, and the number of people using PC is also small 4. The government funds supporting development and research do not exceed 0.5% of the gross national product. 5. The rate of unemployment in the Arab countries is the highest among developing countries. 6. The exports of manufacture are inert, and private capitals drop behind 7. The young generation is numerous compared to the previous years 8. Despite significant progress in changing women position, there is much to be done yet. The women suffer from segregation and unemployment. (Fukuyama) The commentators often speak about unpredictable social effects that may occur as the result of the attempts to bring democracy to the definite societies outside. The example of USSR is a sample of such unpredictable implosion, when the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev, integrated into the archaic society by force, resulted in implosion of the state. And such consequences may include not only radical shifts of the society; the other point is that if any kind of resemblance of democracy appears, nobody could foresee what it would look like in this definite society in future. The commentators cite Iran as an example of the point. It is evident that the necessary reforms should be carried out from the outside, by the government and with the help of legislation. However, nobody can say who is to convince the government of any Muslim country that the necessary changes are to be taken. (Turi) The historical experience shows that the USA demonstrated rather careful attitude to this question in the past. Those who comment on the George Bush's speech on Palestine and its successful movement towards the democracy, as it established democratic government, state that he expressed the fear that other countries of the Arab world are likely to missing this point. (Ahrari) The experts regard Jordan as the most probable follower of Palestinian-administered territories. Lebanon is also regarded as the country that is coming closer to the democracy, due to the fact that this country doesn't have a strong leader, like Saddam Hussein. The situation in Syria is better now, than it was in time when it was ruled by Hafiz Assad, the father of the current leader of the nation. But the system created by this leader is strong and stable, so there are no evident signs to change to more democratic character. The case with Iraq is regarded as the most hopeless. It is evident that even with the absence of such leader as Saddam Hussein, this country is not likely to swing to democratic system soon. Among the countries of the North Africa, the experts regard Morocco as the most probable candidate for providing democratic changes. However, the other states of this region are supposed to keep up to authoritarian system of governing the country at the nearest future. The leaders of these countries bring their sons up to inherit their positions. The phenomenon of dictatorship handed down can be frequently met in many Muslim countries. The other region to be observed is the region of Persian Gulf, but the monarchy systems of the country are different from each other. Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman represent the systems with limited democracy, so diplomatic American interference may be useful as far as these countries are concerned. There are the countries that remain the sample of authoritarian dictatorship. Saudi Arabia is the country, where Islamic culture an traditions are rooted, so implementing democratic tendencies in this country would be extremely hard, and this can be done only by ruling circles of the country. The current leaders of the country are not likely to play significant roles in this sphere. It is expected that their children could be the forces to provide political changes. Unfortunately, those who speak about it do not have proofs for this statement. (Ahrari) The USA government realizes that the major events of the war against terrorism should take place not on the battlefields, but in state policies and strategies. Those who work out the programs of democratization have various opinions concerning the main points that are to be changed. For instance, Kofi Annan, the UNO Secretary General speaks about poverty that is to be annihilated. But G. Bush's administration states that this is the tyranny and dictatorship that prevent successful implementation of democratic processes in the countries of Arab world. As the USA President states in his speech in 2003, "Democracy, and the hope and progress it brings, [are] the alternative to instability and to hatred and terror. We cannot rely exclusively on military power to assure our long term security. Lasting peace is gained as justice and democracy advance. In democratic and successful societies, men and women do not swear allegiance to malcontents and murderers; they turn their hearts and labor to building better lives. And democratic governments do not shelter terrorist camps". (qtd in Ahrari) Vali Nasr speaks about the problems as they look like from the inside: "It's problematic in that there is much more obvious reasons why there isn't more democracy in the region. When you look at the billions of dollars that goes to support dictatorial regimes in the Arab world. If you cut that money, there'll be democracy much faster. When you look at the war on terror right now, giving the free hand to governments to suspend parliaments, persecute democratic forces, put people in prison under any pretext, suspend civil liberties, then, you know, it is a much better explanation than trying to sort of put this on culture." (The Future of Democracy in the Arab World) The USA President and government declared their mission as spreading democratic tendencies as the strategy that would be helpful in annihilation of the terrorist camps and ideology. The President stated that he set the goals of the USA foreign policy, presupposing the war against terrorism and spreading democracy, for the nearest 60 years. At the past, Washington demonstrated a little interference in the internal policy of Arab countries, but now the threat of terrorism is regarded by the USA government as the reason justifying such interference. The main question that remains is as follows: are the countries of Arab world capable of accepting democratic regime And in case if not, could Americans be successful agents of implementing necessary changes in society and political culture Of course, there is no answer to this question, because there is no precedent of democratic government in the countries of Arab world. The statement that the essence of Arab culture and policy withstands the spread of democracy cannot be proved or disproved until the samples of true Arab democracy appear. The commentators discuss if there us something special in Arab culture that could prevent implementation of democracy policy or practicing democracy. There are two countries that deserve special attention while regarding this question. At first, Lebanon is related to as the sample of society with democratic tendencies, which appeared in the period between the World War II and to 70s of the XXth century. Of course, the state organization in Lebanon cannot be regarded as democratic state, due to the odd nature of such democracy. The offices were divided among numerous religious groups and ethnic communities, although the government is elected by the people with free debates and give-and-take in parliament. Unfortunately, this system existed until the intervention of Syrians, Israelis and Palestinians. (Muravchik) Increasing demand calling for democratization is heard from peoples of Arab countries. These voices comprise not only the speeches of the dissidents, but also members of the governments of many countries. The nation leaders of Morocco and Jordan attempted to move towards democratization, as well as the leaders of small countries of Persian Gulf countries. A group of scientists from several Arab countries prepared and released the Arab Human Development Report in 2002. In this report they blamed three basic deficits that are inherent to the culture and political system of the states of Arab world. These three elements are as follows: the lack of freedom, information and women participation in the political processes. They featured the second report which was published in October, 2003. It was especially devoted to the lack of information and knowledge and the connection of this deficit with the lack of personal and social freedoms. The other writings devoted to other lacks listed by the authors are at work now. (Yacoubian) To encourage democratic tendencies in the Arab world, the war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq is considered to be successful start for spreading democracy to the Middle East. Hussein's dictatorship is regarded as the most dangerous and murderous regimes that ever existed in the Middle East. Besides, Iraq occupies the second position after Egypt in influencing the whole Arab world. It is evident that if the attempts to integrate democratic ideas into Iraq are successful it would become a great incentive for other countries of the Middle East. It is supposed to influence Iran, not just as a neighbor state, but as one of the most powerful agents of influence in Arab world, which would, in turn, also influence the success of spreading democracy in states of Arab world. The experts state that the USA foreign policy won't be reduced to military occupation, as in Iraq. On the contrary, other regimes of the countries of the Middle East seem to be less threatening compared to the leadership of Saddam Hussein, (due to the absence of public support of terrorism and absence of nuclear programs and projects of weapons of mass destruction). The strategy of using the force in the situation in Iraq can be justified by several factors, such as the threat of working out and using the weapon of mass destruction, support of terrorism, and assurance that the methods of Hussein's regime are the only just and effective methods of ruling the state. The USA is eager to use the strategies, other then military occupation in the other countries. The experts say that there are the measures that are supposed to be effective: "such nonmilitary methods as diplomatic pressure, foreign aid, increased international radio and television broadcasting, and direct assistance to democracy advocates. By these means it will try to foster a regional tide of democratization that will bring the Middle East into sync with the rest of the world." (Muravchik) After observation of the situation at the Middle East, the following conclusion can be maid: the path to democracy in the countries of Arab world is problematic and challenging. There are three relevant problems in current political situation, the degree of willingness of the governments to reform the society, the borders of the international interference, and effectiveness of the democratic promotion carried out by the USA. It is evident that successful integration of democracy at the Middle East is not possible without support from the inside of the countries. Works Cited Ahrari, Ehsan. Facing the 'real' enemy in the Arab Middle East. Middle East. Asia Times. July 13, 2002. Available at http://atimes.com/ Fukuyama, Francis. Do we really know how to promote democracy Foreign Policy Association. May 24, 2005. Available at www.fpa.org Joshua Muravchik. Bringing Democracy to the Arab World. Journal of Current History. January 15, 2004. available at http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspID=11768 Munthe, Turi. Democracy in the Middle East: Handle with Care. April 2005. available at http://www.rusi.org/studies/menap/newsbrief/ The Future of Democracy in the Arab World. Of Burkhas And Ballots. Filmed on November 17, 2003. available at http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/800/default.htm Yacoubian, Mona. Promoting Middle East Democracy II. Arab Initiatives. May, 2005. available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr136.pdf Read More