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Source: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008147
Promoting Democracy and Preventing Terrorism
(Wall Street Journal) Francis Fukuyama and Adam Garfinkle - An editorial in the Wall Street Journal recently asked: "Anyone out there have a better idea" than the Bush administration's policy of high-profile democracy promotion in the Arab and Muslim worlds as a means to fight terrorism? Well, yes, there is one. That better idea consists of separating the struggle against radical Islamism from promoting democracy in the Middle East, focusing on the first struggle, and dramatically changing our tone and tactics on the democracy promotion front, at least for now. Just as it proved possible to stigmatize and eventually eliminate slavery from mainstream global norms without having first to wait for the mass advent of liberal democracy, it should be possible to effectively stigmatize jihadi terrorism without having first to midwife democracies from Morocco to Bangladesh. The U.S. and its Western allies should be helping genuine, traditional, and pious Muslims to reassert their dominance over a beautiful and capacious religious civilization in the face of a well-financed assault by extremist thugs. Promoting liberal and democratic institutions in the Middle East should be decoupled from this fight, since it is a much more long-term project.