Another reason why democratization can’t work

The logic of President Bush’s “forward strategy for democracy” is that non-democratic countries and cultures are cruel to their own people, and so are willing to use violence against other peoples, while democratic countries treat their own people decently, and so act decently toward other peoples. Therefore the way to make America safe from Muslim terrorism is to spread democracy to all Muslim countries.

But, as discussed here yesterday, Muslim countries including Iraq widely practice the butchery of female genital mutilation. The adoption of a democratic constitution in Iraq is not going to change that deeply ingrained custom. A society that practices such monstrous cruelty toward its own girls and women will continue to be cruel generally, and accept the use of violence and terrorism. Therefore, by Bush’s own logic, Bush’s strategy must fail.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 24, 2005 01:13 PM | Send