July 14th, 2008 by Adam

In an interesting article in the Daily Star, Waleed Sadi examines the differences between American and European approaches to democratization in the Middle East. Sadi says the U.S. sees regional democratization as, “…a process with a political agenda linked to its strategic global policy.” This makes the American commitment to democracy much more inconsistent as the U.S. is willing to ignore democracy when it advances U.S. interests, while promoting it when their is little risk.

The Europeans, on the other hand, are more consistent even if its successes are limited. The EU takes a more subtle, nuanced approach and rarely criticizes nations that have yet to embark on political reform for fear of provoking a counterproductive response. Sadi concludes by elucidating the greatest difference on regional democratization by saying, “…the EU has concluded that democracy cannot be imposed from the outside, but must arise from within through a slow evolutionary process. Democracy needs to be nurtured and cultivated by creating a culture for democracy that does not arise out of nowhere. This conclusion has yet to dawn on the US leadership.”

Posted in Democracy Promotion, EU, US foreign policy |