How Democratic Are We?

By Yarden Maoz

Until five years ago, most people thought that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberalization of China meant that the world had moved into a phase where democracy would slowly spread across the entire world. That illusion was shattered on Sept. 11th 2001. Instead of standing on the sidelines, the Bush administration launched an attack into Afghanistan with the intent of bringing democracy to the Middle East starting with Iraq.

But the question remains: can the U.S. grow democracy, specifically in the Islamic world, in the same way that it did in Latin American, South America, Europe and Japan after WWII? Or are different tactics needed? "I think democracy is sometimes hard to export," says New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. "It often works best if it can be homegrown and that doesn't always work."

Clearly education is important when it comes to understanding the tenants of democracy. There are a lot of societies that have decent education for boys, yet girls basically receive no education. "I think that it makes a huge difference in building democracy if you can have both boys and girls more educated," Kristof said. "I think also that many poor countries have a problem with tribal or clan breakdowns, and they are ferociously suspicious of somebody from another tribe or clan or social group. One of the best ways to break down that mistrust is precisely through education."

As the world's richest and strongest country, it seems to me we have to be more consistent and even handed with all of the desperate people in the world, less driven by our self interests. Most of all, we need to lead with what Kristof says sells better than any administration's policy, "People desperately want American blue jeans and they desperately want to listen to Madonna."