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In the Mideast, the Third Way Is a Myth

(Washington Post) Shibley Telhami - The reality shown by Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections is this: If fully free elections were held today in the rest of the Arab world, Islamist parties would win in most states. Even with intensive international efforts to support "civil society" and nongovernmental organizations, elections in five years would probably yield the same results. The notion that American programs and efforts can help build a third alternative to both current governments and Islamists is simply a delusion. In Arab politics there are primarily two organized power groups: Islamic organizations, drawing their support from a disenfranchised public mobilized by the mosque, and governing elites. Islamists remain the most well-organized alternative to governments, a situation that is unlikely to change soon. The writer, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, is a senior fellow at the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution.
2006-02-17 00:00:00
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