Why democracy doesn't work in the Arab countries

The AP is running an article outlining the setbacks the Arab reformers have been experiencing in trying to liberalize their governments. Basically, the US has let up on pressuring the governments to change, because we're bogged down in Iraq.

The article goes on, though, with some comments from Arab liberals that confirm exactly what I've been thinking for quite a while: most Arabs are just not ready for democracy, especially Western-style democracy that values individual liberty so highly. When they do get a chance to choose their governments, they tend to vote for conservative religion-based parties that want to restrict their liberties, not enhance and protect them.

I think this first became known in Algeria a number of years ago. As I remember it, the people were about to or had just voted for a party whose platform called for the institution of religious law. The military would have no part of it, and executed a coup d'état. There was great debate about whether we should support such a non-democratic action--shouldn't we support a democratically elected government over a miltary dictatorship? No, I thought. Not this time. We should not support a government that will not protect individual human rights, regardless how it comes to power--the tyranny of the majority is still tyranny.

The AP article quotes Arab reformers echoing my thoughts: until there is a large middle class, democracy won't work there. They also point out that many Arabs are more concerned with settling scores with the West, from the Israel/Palestine question all the way back to the Crusades. I think they left out the problems of intra-Arab ethnic and religious clashes. The Sunni insurgents in Iraq aren't fighting to return Saddam Hussein to power, but they are fighting to keep the majority Shiites out of power--something they had under him.

But I think the biggest thing is the lack of a large, well-educated middle class, people who will expect their government to protect what they do have, not to give them what they don't have. Bush's attempt to impose democracy on Iraq will fail because of it. In fact, a great many of the small Iraqi middle class are leaving. They know what will happen when, sooner or later, the U.S. leaves.