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Is Liberal Democracy Viable in The Middle East?

Definition of Liberal Democracy

In order to be able to address the question of whether liberal democracy is viable in the Middle East we must first define what is meant by the term 'liberal democracy'. Democracy literally translated means "rule by the people", from the Greek demos, "people", and kratos, "rule" (Weingast, 1997, p 245). Liberal democracy is a representative democracy, with free and fair elections, along with the protection of minorities, the rule of law, a separation of powers, and protection of liberties (thus the name liberal) of speech, assembly, religion, and property (Weingast, 1997, p 245). It is therefore possible to have a democracy, or rule by the people, without the full criteria that are required for a liberal democracy.

The second condition that must be defined to be able to answer the question of whether liberal democracy is viable in the Middle East is that of a time frame. For the purpose of this discussion essay the time frame will be that of the present. With the definition of liberal democracy being the full criterion as explained above and the time frame in question being the present day Middle East, I propose that no a liberal democracy is not viable in the Middle East. The reasoning for this decision will be presented under the following headings: governing history of the Middle East, The Israel - Arab conflict and the United States of America's democratization efforts, The Muslim faith and finally the conclusion.

Governing History of the Middle East

One way to examine if liberal democracy is viable in the Middle East is to examine the governing methods of the past as it leads into the present. Except in Israel, Middle Eastern countries have undergone many decades of undemocratic forms of government (Craner, 2006, p 3). As democracy became the accepted form of government in Western countries, Middle Eastern countries in the vast majority were under colonial rulers, kings or tribal or clan leaders (Wright, 1996, p 65). In the 1950s and 1960s in many Arab/Muslim countries, military forces seized power of their countries back from the loathed British and French colonialists (Carothers and Ottaway, 2005, p 3). However rather than developing representative government of the people these military leaders commonly used interpretation of Islamic tenets to incite antidemocratic sentiment in their citizens effectively keeping the power and control they seized by force from the colonialists

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