The Foreign Service Journal, March 2007

Pakistan and other Arab and Muslim countries so that national education programs become less dependent on funding from regimes that dictate course content; encouraging other donor nations to offer special assis- tance for education to needy coun- tries, such as Egypt; and lobbying Arab governments to review their his- tory texts and modify them to reflect more objective accounts. Be Patient The biggest challenge the West faces in promoting democracy in the Arab and Muslim worlds is the fact that most people in these countries do not believe that these efforts are genuine, undertaken to benefit them rather than to serve Western or U.S. strategic interests. They accuse the Bush administration of using democ- racy as a ploy to target regimes it does not like, such as in Iraq, Syria or Iran, while leaving governments no less despotic (e.g., Saudi Arabia) to their own devices. They further accuse the United States of trying to pro- mote a democracy of convenience, at a time and place of its choosing, regardless of the aspirations of the people affected by such narrow, interest-guided policies. So, no mat- ter how sincere, all the enthusiasm in the White House about the spread of democracy in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan only reinforces cynicism among many in the region. The development of true democ- racy in the Middle East will be slow, painstaking, extremely challenging and — at times — violent. Not only the West, but Arab and Muslim states, must learn from the mistakes the Bush administration has made in Iraq. Artificially accelerating the process and forcing democratic reforms on Iraqis have created terri- ble turmoil with no end in sight. A far better strategy would be for the United States and its allies to allow political maturity to evolve in such countries by fostering political and economic development. Appro- priate assistance will strengthen the basis for sustainable democratic forms of government. 66 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 7 The development of true democracy in the Middle East will be slow, painstaking, extremely challenging and — at times — violent.