Voting, but for What?

In: The world today, Band 61, Heft 12, S. 12-13

Abstract

Although democratic elections have taken place in several Middle Eastern countries in 2005, it is stressed that democracy has not been firmly established throughout the region. It is noted that considerations of democracy's future in Middle Eastern countries emphasize two specific issues: the compatibility of democracy & Islam & the lingering support for authoritarian forms of government in many nations. It is subsequently asserted that economic difficulties & emerging political realities have further obstructed the formation of democratic governments across the Middle East. In fact, it is suggested that democratic systems of government could actually jeopardize regional security without additional substantive assistance from Western democracies. Indeed, current events in Iraq are compared to those in Algeria during the 1990s to illustrate the potential difficulties of entrenching democracy within non-democratic Muslim countries. J. W. Parker