Democracy now

The Egyptian youth have been widely reported to be the primary actors in the country’s mass demonstrations.

But if this revolution’s demographic composition seems predictable, the protestors’ demands mark a new political era for the Middle East as well as for international relations.

The region is, or at least has been, dotted with leaders for life who have stayed in office with the help of their security apparatuses rather than the legitimacy of the ballot box.

From 1979 to 2003, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq. In Syria, the Assad family has occupied the presidency since 1971. Yemen’s president has been in office since 1978. As of printing, Hosni Mubarak continues his 29-year presidency in Egypt. And President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia was only just forced out after ruling since 1987.

But as quickly as once-unquestionable leaders have found themselves standing in political quicksand, Americans have also found our nation facing a generation-defining moment in our international diplomacy.

Both Bush presidents were known for (and made infamous by) their policies regarding the Middle East.

When Saddam’s Iraq invaded Kuwait, George H.W. Bush pined for “a new world order” of peace between nations. Coming from the former vice president of the administration involved in the Iran-Contra Affair, world peace and transparency seemed more rhetorical than substantive.

Of course, when George W. Bush updated Woodrow Wilson’s promise to “make the world safe for democracy” by “rid(ding) the world of evil,” he meant ending the rule of a dictator with an abysmal record of respect for human rights.

The phrase, however, turned out to be tragically ironic when it involved leveling a country’s infrastructure, prompting a sectarian civil war and sacrificing approximately 100,000 civilian lives and more than 4,000 American troops.

Now, both Bush presidents should be quite happy surveying the evolving political landscape of the Middle East and finding their ambitions accomplished through peaceful means.

Egypt demonstrates that the best assurance of a flourishing democracy is, well, flourishing democracy itself. When the Egyptian people reclaimed popular sovereignty on the streets through massive peaceful demonstrations, the “democratic” facade of Mubarak’s regime crumbled.

In gloomier days, Americans viewed the world as full of “evil” we had to righteously root out. Just as Egyptian youth have been largely successful in redefining the future of their country’s political life, a new generation of Americans has an opportunity to rethink their own position in the world.  

Rather than seeing threats lurking in every corner that must be remedied with military intervention, we might recognize that democracy spreads through dialogue and persuasion.

When we allow people to choose their own form of government, democratic principles may genuinely grow and create a more equitable, less repressive and more just world.


E-mail: wallacen@indiana.edu