March 16th, 2010 by Josh

In an interview with United Arab Emirates-based Gulf News, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Tamara Wittes extols democracy’s capacity to foster sustainable growth, economic advancement, and societal stability. “We believe in democracy as a human value and an essential need for mankind,” says Wittes, quickly pivoting to how that might manifest on the ground. “We also believe that participation in decision-making process is essential for success. The US is not willing to impose democratic values in the Arab world. We need people to adopt the democratic participation in decision-making process the way that suits them and we are convinced that democracy can not live on its own. Economic and social development are prerequisites for sustainable democracy.”

Wittes further rebukes the notion that the Obama administration has de-emphasized democracy promotion on the spectrum of foreign policy priorities, saying, “We are talking with both governments and the organisations of social society in a number of middle eastern countries to encourage a common ground for democratic participation of people in these countries.”

But David Ottaway is less optimistic about the viability of democracy in a region filled with “master manipulators” who “skillfully used elections to illustrate the dangers democracy might end up posing to U.S. ­interests.”

Highlighting yet another perspective, Michael Allen of Democracy Digest relays an excerpt from a Francis Fukuyama piece in which he insists that the true meaning of a “democracy agenda” doesn’t mandate “the loud trumpeting of promises of support for regional democracy that we cannot keep,” but instead requires “working quietly behind the scenes to push friendly authoritarians towards a genuine broadening of political space in their countries through the repeal of countless exceptional laws, defamation codes, party registration statutes and the like that hinder the emergence of real democratic contestation.”

Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, US foreign policy |