The Foreign Service Journal, March 2004

38 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 4 S TRUGGLING TO IMPLANT A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM IN I RAQ , THE U.S. IS BEING FORCED BY POLITICAL REALITY TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONCESSIONS . B Y M ARINA O TTAWAY F O C U S O N I R A Q n a word, no. The United States cannot “export democracy” to Iraq. It may set in motion a political process eventually leading to a more open political system in Iraq, but only if it gives up the idea of exporting a ready-made democratic system. The political reality of Iraq has been slowly but relentlessly driving home this basic truth. At this writing, the high expectations of exporting democracy to Iraq evident at the beginning of the war have been progressively whittled down. The United States is still struggling to implant a political system based on I Adam Niklewicz C AN THE U NITED S TATES E XPORT D EMOCRACY TO I RAQ ?