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How to Encourage Democracy in Egypt

(Daily Beast) Leslie H. Gelb - Most of the American talkocracy is now so utterly intoxicated with protestocracy in Egypt, which they call democracy, that they outright neglect the enormous trials of getting from the streets to a real democracy - a process that lends itself to hijacking by extremists. The Muslim Brotherhood jumps immediately to mind as hijackers, but don't overlook the potentially equal or greater threat to democracy from Egypt's beloved armed forces. The history of venomous domestic and foreign-policy pronouncements by the Muslim Brotherhood should keep us all awake at night. I'd like to believe that, if I were an Egyptian, I would be in the streets with the protesters. I'd be mad as hell with Mubarak and would want to get rid of him as quickly as possible. But that wouldn't make me or my fellow mobsters democrats. Generally, one cannot count on mobs, no matter how nice or liberal, to produce democracies. The best way to get from the streets of Cairo to some semblance of a constitutional government that ensures rights and freedoms is, of course, to get Mubarak and his lot to help with the transition from dictatorship to the desired end. The policy trick for the U.S. is to try to "praise" Mubarak into saving his nation once again by turning over power to his subordinates, calling for an assembly to fix the worst parts of the present constitution, and holding supervised elections. This approach is far better than pretending that the protestocracy can somehow magically transform itself into a democratic government. They have no organized political parties and no experience with governing. The Muslim Brotherhood promises democracy and nonviolence at home and not to Islamicize Egypt. Given their long history, it's simply naive to take them at their word. The writer is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
2011-02-08 00:00:00
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