Source: Carnegie
IS GRADUALISM POSSIBLE?
Choosing a Strategy for Promoting Democracy in the Middle East
Working Paper No. 39
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Summary
As part of the changed U.S. geostrategic outlook arising from the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, the Bush administration
is giving greatly heightened attention to the issue of promoting democracy in
the Middle East. Although a policy of coercive regime change has been applied
in Iraq, the administration has pursued a more gradualist model of political
change in most of the region.
There is still little consensus among U.S. policy makers regarding the best approach for implementing democracy. This working paper assesses three competing strategies that have emerged within the growing domain of gradualist pro-democratic policies and programs.
This is the third in a series of working papers that will frame key issues
relating to democracy promotion policies and programs in the Middle East. Also
in the series:
Liberalization
Versus Democracy: Understanding Arab Political Reform, by Daniel
Brumberg
Promoting
Democracy in the Middle East: The Problem of U.S. Credibility, by Marina
Ottaway
About the Author
Thomas Carothers, senior associate at the Carengie Endowment, is the founder
and director of the Endowment's Democracy
and Rule of Law Project. He is the author of several books on democracy
promotion, including Aiding
Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve, and a coauthor of
Democratic Mirage in the Middle East (Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief
No. 20).
Available only online.