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Democratization in the middle east
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I negate the resolution U.S efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East are desirable.
The value that I hold in this round is autonomy. Autonomy is defined as the power or right of a country or region to govern itself. When practicing autonomy it serves as a model for the people whose interests are reflected in the principles of government. The criterion held in this round is individualism. The Middle East should be allowed to follow by their own government. Political individualism is purely concerned with protecting a country’s autonomy. The U.S does not need to force their government upon the Middle East.
CONTENTION I: Democracy will not succeed in the Middle East
Some nations of peoples simply can’t handle democracy. They are not ready for it. Some never will be. The big idea that we, the US, can spread democracy throughout the world has proven to be America's bite too big to chew and too big to swallow. You would think that after failures in the Middle East, notably, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt, the US would recognize the utter uselessness of establishing an American style representative republic in any of those lands where Islamists hold sway.
A. Our definition of democracy isn’t equal to the Middle East’s
We all have these wonderful definitions of freedom and democracy being these great things that mean that we are actually involved and play a role in our government, but freedom can be scary and dangerous. Even here in the land of the free, America, where a sizable portion of the people’s ancestors had freedom handed to them one hundred and fifty years ago, have yet to learn how to handle it. A century and a half later they still require help from the government that freed them. Being free is not easy.
The Middle East...
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... a track record of better behavior than autocracies. But the preference for rushing states to the ballot box probably does more harm than good and it produces dysfunctional regimes. Egypt's recently overthrown president, Mohamed Morsi, may have been fairly elected, but he did preside over the near collapse of the Egyptian state.
Instead of persuading Cairo to hold elections and threatening to suspend aid if it does not, the U.S. should press the current leadership to adhere to standards of a responsible government, including ending the violence and political repression, restoring the basic functions of the state, facilitating economic recovery, countering extremists and keeping the peace with Israel. At this moment in Egypt's political awakening, the performance of its government will be a more important determinant of its durability than whether it won an election.
Throughout history, Americans have sought to spread the spirit of equality, which is believed to be the realization of true freedom. Before establishing this freedom, every American had only one question stuck in their head: What is freedom? Our country received it in the year of 1776 from the British through a series of difficulties and wars. African Americans defined it as an escape from slavery, while immigrants defined it as their acceptance into a new society. More yet, women of the women’s suffrage defined their freedom as their recognition into society and for their rights to be equal to that of every other man. These different perceptions of cultures/groups in America tied together to form an American view of freedom. Freedom is something that every American should be willing to do anything in order to maintain. We may have weapons of mass destruction, but when it comes to living in a peaceful, American lifestyle, our freedom is our greatest weapon.
...e, that it being “un-democratic” is actually a strength that sometimes helps our nation in making important decisions that others will not make?
The United States is run by a democracy. There are many pieces to democracy that must be in good health in order for democracy to be effective and work. In this essay I will critique some of the most important parts of democracy in America and go deeper. I will first focus on the strengths of United States democracy and then I will dive into categories of democracy that I believe to not be thriving. I believe that the current conditions of United States democracy are becoming a hindrance to this nation, because the opinions and freedoms the public possess are being stripped away through poor media, education, and economy.
America is one word that brings the hope of freedom to many people around the world. Since the United States’ humble beginnings freedom has remained at the core of its ideologies and philosophies. People of all races, nations, and tongues have found refuge in America. The National Anthem proclaims, “…land of the free, and home of the brave” (Key, 1814). But has America been consistently a land of the free? Unfortunately freedom has not always reigned. There is a constant struggle to overcome fear and prejudice in order to provide a true land of freedom. In times of heightened tension, the masses of common people seek to find a scapegoat. Often, this scapegoat is a minority with ties to current negative events. As fear uncontrollably grows, it can cause people to allow and commit unspeakable atrocities.
Works Cited Hudson, William E. American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America’s Future – Fourth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004. Landy, Marc and Sidney M. Milkis. American Government: Balancing Democracy and Rights.
US Presidents have made it a goal during their term(s) in office to establish a good relationship with foreign countries and even try to improve upon existing connections with our allies. Some believe it is to prevent conflicts between the countries while others dispute that it is a threat assessment by the United States to pick and choose their friends and enemies. Preventing conflict between two democracies or countries that practice democracy is called Democratic Peace Theory. However, research has begun to show that Democratic Peace Theory is ineffective and needs to be brought to an end as a model for how international relations are formed or destroyed. Democratic Peace Theory needs to be abolished as a support for forming foreign policy between democracies because of the burden placed on both parties to come to an agreement but still stand proud and victorious as a country without conceding anything.
In comparing the average citizen in a democratic nation, say the United States, to that of a non-democratic nation, for instance Egypt, it will be found that the citizen in the democratic nation is generally better off – free of persecution, free from fear of the authorities, and free to express his opinions on governmental matters. And while national conflicts occur everywhere, incidents like violent revolts have shown to be more prevalent in nations where citizens are not allowed to choose who governs them. It is slightly paradoxical that democracy, so inherently flawed in theory, can lead to such successful outcomes in practice. The question, then, becomes: “If democracy has so many weaknesses, why does it work?”
In Eva Bellin’s “The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective” she argues that the inability of the Middle Eastern countries to catch up on the wave of democratization may be associated to the robustness of the coercive apparatus in multiple states of the area and their will and capacity to crush any form of democratic initiative. She makes a valid point by first acknowledging the fact that even though the majority of these states have failed to meet the prerequisites for democracy there are multiple countries around the world that have been able to establish democratic regimes in the absence of many of these conditions. However, she also recognizes that the lack of them may have strengthen
Egypt has erupted into civil war. Its people are revolting against the Hosni Mubarak regime and are demanding a new government that represents the interests of the Egyptian people. Each modern day revolt mimics the countless uprising that has occurred during the times of Ancient Athens and Rome. The populace rises to overthrow their oppressors fighting for liberty, but is liberty, is democracy truly the solution? Democracy, by definition, is a government in which power is derived from its people. With democracy comes the ability for the masses to direct the government for the benefit of the common man; he who experiences the effects of its decisions directly. However, if these masses become destructive by any means, a democratic society will fail. There are many motives of democracy ranging from the attempt to simply alter some facets of democracy to striving to abolish its existence entirely. Behind each critique is a philosopher; one who asserts their views on how society should function. Two great minds in particular voiced conviction against the creation of democracy and subsequently provided solutions and alternatives to the government that they found faulty. Each presented teachings and writings which urged each complacent citizen to question their role in society and reconsider the conventions that were established under the fallacy they believed democracy to be. Although numerous philosophers criticized democracy, both Plato, through his argument to establish an Oligarchy, and Polybius, whose writings displayed a Roman constitution that split powers between three integral types of Governed, established some of most explicit alternatives to democratic rule. Above all, the Roman solution is the most relevant to the subse...
“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way.” These words spoken by United States President Barack Obama reflect not only the sentiment of many nations around the world about the leadership of Syria’s president, but also the essence of Chapter eight: the difference between democracy and nondemocracy. Democracy is characterized by the connection between the government and its people in terms of input like the ideas and interests of the people, and output such as laws and policy. This differs from nondemocracy. Many elements contribute to a country being labeled nondemocratic. Ellen Grigsby asserts that nondemocratic governments are antipaticipatory, suppressive of some groups within society, diverse in terms of leadership, unclear in terms of succession, and productive of laws and policies that fail to reflect the interests of the citizens (182). Syrian history exemplifies these nondemocratic ideals and the 2011 Syrian uprising represents a contemporary issue of nondemocracy.
Its quite clear that across the region, Oil has had a detrimental effect on the implementation and spread of democracy so I’ll finish with this tongue and cheek quote by Dick Cheney, then the CEO of Halliburton one of the worlds largest oil field services
Democracy is “...the word that resonates in people’s minds and springs from their lips as they struggle for freedom and a better way of life...” (Schmitter and Karl, 1991:75). However, the word democracy has many different means depending on the country and context it is used in. “Every country has is own culture and comes by its political system through its own history” (Greenberg, 2007:101, cited in Li, 2008:4). Li, (2008) states that because of China’s political structure the usual road to democracy may be difficult for it to achieve. The western idea ...
The dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak continued for three decades in Egypt. Autocracy, police brutality, radically skewed distribution of nation’s wealth, youth unemployment, domination of all institutions by older men were major factors that stimulated the Arab Spring Revolution. With an autocratic leadership there was no free speech from the Egyptian citizens which led to too much power being
Whereas, democratization should be done through self-determination. Democracy requires citizenship participation, while coercive democratization does not respect the idea of political participation. Coercive democratization with military intervention disrupts the balance of power in a country. It is destined to fail because imposing democracy by force is contradictory to democracy itself. Beetham also argues that if foreign actors “liberated” a country, then the new government would not last without their support, especially if they have no prior experience with democracy. Citizens from an authoritarian regime will not be able to sustain a democratic one. Additionally, coercive democracy does not usually prioritize promoting democratization but focuses on removing a threat, such as weapons of mass destruction for personal gain, usually through regime change. The best way to do this is by changing the regime within a country. For example, the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was a way of displaying U.S. power. It also exposed the corrupt, inadequately acknowledged side of democratic promotion that has always existed. The U.S. mainly wanted oil security and hoped the overthrow would stimulate democratization within the region. Another goal was to reduce the threat of terrorism and war in general, since democratic regimes tend to get along. However, since no weapons of mass destruction were found, the Iraq invasion was justified with democratization. If democracy does occur in a country, it is usually an indirect consequence of military intervention, such as in Bangladesh after the Indian invasion of East Pakistan. Coercive democracy could work if there are already pre-existing democratic conditions in a country. But in Iraq’s case, it did not lead to democratization.
“Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man” (Reagan, N.d.). This quote, said by Ronald Reagan, shows that democracy is more than just a government; it’s honor, freedom and hope. While looking at previous government systems, including Communism and Capitalism, one can notice the limitations that made each of these government systems fail time and time again. Through the balance of other systems prior, people representation, and limited power, democracy has been proven helpful to this country’s prosperity and growth. Even though most government systems have shattered and failed on numerous counts, democracy has remained intact and has gained the right to be named the best form of government in today’s society.