It’s Okay To Focus Too Much On Democracy

Anthony Cordesman on the western enthusiasm for what’s going on in the Arab world:

The unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen […] highlight a critical problem in how the west deals with fractured and failing states. To date, there has been too much focus on demonstrations and too little on the fact that changes in regimes that do not deal with the underlying causes of the protests are simply going to substitute one form of failed regime for another.

The US and Europe need to focus on helping them meet these challenges. They need to stop focusing on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as if repressive states without effective governance could suddenly become mirror images of the west.

In general, he’s making the fair point that the west needs to focus on institution building and economic development more than democracy itself. But it seems to me that he’s underestimating the importance of democracy and transparency.

Democracy is not about elections only, it’s about accountability. The idea is that parties who will prove to be incompetent will be voted out and others voted in. The process will encourage creativity and will reward efficiency and prosperity. This means that the “underlying causes of the protests” would be top priority for the people in charge, not a problem for the west to solve.