Dwight Stephens

A great deal of attention has been devoted to the Bush team’s failure to secure Iraq, making Iraqis safe, and whether it deployed too few U.S. troops to really get the “mission accomplished.” Considerably less attention has been devoted to whether the objective of planting a democracy in the middle east is fatally flawed from a cultural perspective. In The Central Liberal Truth, Lawrence Harrison notes Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation: “It is difficult (and probably impossible from the outside) to build a democracy without a critical mass of democrats.” As things unravelled in Iraq, President Bush reportedly exclaimed, in effect, “Where is their Washington, their Jefferson, their Adams?” The Bush team evidently didn’t look for the “critical mass of democrats” ” in Iraq first.

The Bush team also seems not to have studied the history and culture of the region. Along these lines, Lawrence Harrison’s book contains an insight that might be helpful in Iraq. In The Central Liberal Truth, Mr. Harrison describes “the post-1989 development of the Russian region of Novgorod, near St. Petersburg, which has been atypically successful both in consolidating democratic institutions and promoting economic development, in contrast with the neighboring Pskov region, where the Communists remain influential.” The reason? The decision by Novgorod’s leaders to emphasize the positive aspects of the city’s past. “By systematically highlighting Novgorod’s heritage as a medieval trade center and cradle of Russian democracy, local elites re-defined reform as a return to the values of a more propserous Russian past, rather than as something imposed from the outside.” (quoting Nicolai Petro).

Quebec has undergone a similar transformation using a “selective reinterpretation of the traditional culture, in political rhetoric and the media, emphasizing progressive features, for example, tolerance.”

So why not in Iraq? Why not invest some effort in systematically emphasizing the positive and progressive aspects of the Iraqi (Mesopotamian) and Muslim past? Maybe there is the seed of a democratic tradition in the distinguished Muslim past. Certainly, a diligent search can find a “tradition” of tolerance in the Muslim Empire and in the Quran. Tolerance is a bedrock necessity for any democracy. And certainly, political rhetoric and media influence are no less U.S. areas of expertise than its military expertise.

So what’s the point? In determining Iraq policy, maybe we should try working from the inside out instead of forcing our way in and our ways on the Iraqis. In other words, maybe we should use Iraqi history and pride as a weapon for change and progress (and stability) by studying and understanding that history.