Freedom on the run?

DOHA, QATAR—At a meeting of several democracy experts here in the Middle East, one might expect a degree of optimism around recent events. After all, the past few years have seen Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon following massive public protests, as well as limited elections in the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, and Iraq. Even if the results ...

DOHA, QATAR—At a meeting of several democracy experts here in the Middle East, one might expect a degree of optimism around recent events. After all, the past few years have seen Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon following massive public protests, as well as limited elections in the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, and Iraq. Even if the results haven’t always pleased Western governments, most NGOs that rate elections as free or not, including Freedom House, have found marked recent improvements in democratic measures.

Not so fast. At a session here at the Doha Forum on Development, Democracy, and Free Trade, democracy experts painted a gloomier picture of democratic advances in the Middle East. Gamil Mattar, director of the Arab Centre for Development and Futuristic Studies, based in Cairo, was pretty bleak:

The transformation process has not even started yet. There has been no reform…. The West does not understand the specific needs of the Arab world. Democracy has [so far] been a pretext to advance Western values.

DOHA, QATAR—At a meeting of several democracy experts here in the Middle East, one might expect a degree of optimism around recent events. After all, the past few years have seen Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon following massive public protests, as well as limited elections in the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, and Iraq. Even if the results haven’t always pleased Western governments, most NGOs that rate elections as free or not, including Freedom House, have found marked recent improvements in democratic measures.

Not so fast. At a session here at the Doha Forum on Development, Democracy, and Free Trade, democracy experts painted a gloomier picture of democratic advances in the Middle East. Gamil Mattar, director of the Arab Centre for Development and Futuristic Studies, based in Cairo, was pretty bleak:

The transformation process has not even started yet. There has been no reform…. The West does not understand the specific needs of the Arab world. Democracy has [so far] been a pretext to advance Western values.

As was Palestinian member of Fatah, Hatim Abdel Qadir:

There is weak participation, because the public believes there is no difference between the parties. Emerging Islamist forces are beating the democratic left. But they have no answers for how they will solve problems such as poverty.

And Cambridge Professor George Joffe:

Democracy has been under regression for at least the last five years, during which time “democracy” has had more to do with the Western concept of security than the traditional view of political participation.

Of course, each person in the room probably has a different perception of democracy and free elections. What is clear is that elections—even if transparent, contested, and free—does not a democracy make.

Kate Palmer is deputy managing editor at Foreign Policy.

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