Doomed Democracies

Making my way from the kitchen to the couch to watch the news with my father like any other morning, I glanced up at the calendar: September 11, 2001. As the television screen flickered into clarity, horrid images of two burning buildings and frantic civilians scurried across the screen like it was the end of the world. Puzzled, I looked up and asked my Iraqi father what was going on. He responded, eyes fixated on the screen, that someone had crashed a plane into a New York building. At the time, this fact didn’t trouble me; what startled me was that he began to mutter frantically in Arabic as the news reporters repeated the words, “Islamic terrorist.”

Ever since that fateful day in 2001, mass terrorism hysteria has broken lose within the United States at its ally counties. As frustration and fear resulted in hasty actions by the American government, the United States found itself in the focal point of tackling a War on Terror. As a byproduct of this rapid surge of national security and retaliation, the United States –not knowing at the time – had positioned itself to be caught up in a black hole of never-ending calamities within the Middle East. By commencing an invasion, the United States government tried to make the world a safer place for democracy. However noble those intentions were, the unrealistic goals set forth by this administration lacked many truthful verifications of their new undertaking. More crucially, they lacked the understanding that we as a society cannot enforce democratic ideals upon the traditions and culture of others, specifically those of the Middle East. 

Ever since September 11, my father and I have had discussions about various situations in the Middle East, particularly geared towards the development of democracies in the Arab world. Surprisingly, his beliefs are harmoniously parallel to many of the leading international agencies that deal with Middle Eastern predicaments. “Today, the Middle East lacks the conditions, such as a democratic political history, high standards of living, and high literacy rates, which stimulated democratic change in, for example, central Europe and East Asia,” according to Christopher Preble and Patrick Basham of CATO, an international organization devoted to “the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.” What most in the world do not realize is that the Middle East and its culture that thrives in the modern world today is the same Middle East as it was when Islam emerged thousands of years ago, also implying that the same traditions of government policy and corrupt leaders of the past are currently still in power.

My father acknowledges that because Arabs have acquired years of unilateral knowledge of how to live their lives passed from generation to generation, many are stuck in the factory line mindset of how to be ruled by their governments. However, upon realizing and understanding the ideals of democracy, many now wish to break free of the customary routine of oppression and obtain their natural rights as human beings. But is the United States responsible for taking up the task of establishing democracies in the Arab world? Naturally many might suggest that because the United States is one of the world’s most successful democracies and a leading world power, it would have the capability to do so. However, the lack of cultural understanding and traditional values of the region make it very impractical for an outside force to try and modify the beliefs of millions of civilians. If democracy were to ever be established in the Middle East, it would have to be done through the will and force of the people. “The reality is that the ingredients for successful democracy are found in domestic political kitchens,” Preble and Basham continue on arguing, “Democracy is a dish that Iraqis and others throughout the Middle East must prepare for themselves.”

(second part comming soon)