Democracy Imposed from the Outside

Democracy is an evolved form of government. Most current democracies (including all of Europe but excluding the U.S. and Israel) evolved from a variety of kings, generals and dictators. Many countries conceived as democracies fell victim to generals and dictators; some recovered and some never did. The evolution of representative government is the key tenet of the new American foreign policy that eschews the ruthless “stability” we bought and paid for in the past.

Democracy is an evolved form of government. Most current democracies (including all of Europe but excluding the U.S. and Israel) evolved from a variety of kings, generals and dictators. Many countries conceived as democracies fell victim to generals and dictators; some recovered and some never did. The evolution of representative government is the key tenet of the new American foreign policy that eschews the ruthless “stability” we bought and paid for in the past.

There was a meeting in Yemen this week of The Inter-governmental Regional Conference on Democracy, Human Rights and the Role of the International Criminal Court. More than 600 delegates from 40 countries across the Arab and Islamic world got together and agreed that “democracy and human rights, application of the rule of law, which are compatible with all faiths and cultures, are interdependent and inseparable, and human rights must underpin any meaningful conception of democracy.” Bravo!

That alone doesn’t mean that any one of them has or will have a remotely democratic government in the near future, but it may mean that people in the part of the world least hospitable to democratic impulses thus far are beginning to grapple with the idea of freedom. It also probably means that leaders have begun to understand that old methods of governing are less and less viable. They have to meet the aspirations of their people – aspirations raised in part by the fall of Saddam. People in other countries want to know why they can’t have 157 newspapers like the Iraqis do – with no “Ministry of Information” to censor them; why they can’t speak freely like the Iraqis do; why they can’t have a representative government like the Iraqis do; why they can’t have a constitution committee like the Iraqis will; and why they can’t be planning free and open elections like the Iraqis will.

Dictatorships make it easier for violent fundamentalists to recruit poor and unhappy victims into the war against the West and against modernity. This, then, is a HUGE step in the right direction. It can be compared with the Special Summit of the Americas being held in Mexico City. The only country in the whole of the Americas that doesn’t have a democratic system is Cuba. And while it is true that some countries have less than completely open democracies and Venezuela is having trouble with its elected government, the fact is that Mexico, Central and South America have passed through one-party states and military dictatorships to provide their people with economic and political benefits of democracy.

But some people just can’t stand good news.

In a clear slap at U.S. efforts in Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a message to the Yemen conference, saying in part, “Democracy belongs to the people. It cannot be imposed from the outside.”

Germany and Japan would, no doubt, disagree. Democracy can not only come from outside, but it can even come at the point of a gun.