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Democracy, Solidarity, Sovereignty and Tolerance

[bitterlemons-international.org] Shlomo Avineri - The democracy deficit is the major challenge facing the Arab countries of the Middle East region. Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh show that democratization can take place in Muslim-majority countries. Even Iran shows elements of representation, including participation of women, that are far more developed than anything to be found in Arab countries. Any attempt to impose democratization from outside by force is both morally reprehensible and politically doomed to failure. The burden is on Arab societies themselves to create the preconditions necessary for the emergence of democracy. This means not only elections but the whole panoply of democratic culture, including how to integrate Islam into a modern, open society. With some Arab countries enormously rich due to oil and sparse populations and other countries poor and heavily over-populated, an overarching Arab Marshall Plan could have transformed the entire Arab world into a rich, economically developed region, a mega-Korea. The writer is professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former director-general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2008-10-31 01:00:00
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