The Foreign Service Journal, September 2007

adversary, the roots of tomorrow’s terrorism take hold. One area where, in principle, America’s voice should still be strong is in the promotion of democracy. Whatever its electoral flaws, no one would seriously deny that the United States has a thriving political system. America could provide an important antidote to terrorism by extending the reach of democracy. Indeed, for a while, the Bush administration did active- ly promote democracy — until the “wrong” people began winning elections. The success of Islamist candidates in Egypt, Iraq and the occupied Palestinian territories led the administration to abandon its principled commitment to honoring the results at the ballot box. The pressure to democratize that it had once exerted on Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan or the Saudi royal family has now all but disappeared. But, skeptics ask, can Muslim societies be trusted to elect moderate governments that will eschew terrorism regardless of religious affiliation? The administration now seems to have answered this question in the negative, but only because of its short-term perspective. It should be no surprise that when an authoritarian government in a Muslim society shuts down the political opposition, one of the few safe havens is the mosque. Ironically, that serves the interests of the secular dictator quite well. If he can set up a narrow political competition between himself and the Islamists — as, for example, Egyptian President Mubarak has done by refusing for years to register secular opposition parties — he can tell the West that the choice is between himself and Islamic extremism. Those like the Bush administration who tend to equate democracy with quick elections readily fall into this trap. However, if we understand democracy to require not only elections but also a vigorous press, diverse civil soci- ety, broad political competition and the rule of law, the outlook is very different. That’s because when people face a range of viable political options, they tend to opt for the center. For example, before the Musharraf coup Pakistan enjoyed many of the attributes of a healthy democracy. Allegations of corruption and incompetence under F O C U S S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31