Democracy in the Middle East

From Zanecorpwiki

On June 8th, 2009 the hosts on American Family Radio broadcast made the incredible statement that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Less amazing, but far more disheartening, the guest expert, Ariel Cohen from the Heritage Foundation, failed to correct the show's host.

While it is true that the Middle East political structures are considered largely authoritarian, there are exceptions, and Israel is not the only one:

1. Iraq. Amazingly, the hosts forgot about the country that their hero G.W. Bush--whom they had just finished singing the praises of--liberated specifically to spread democracy.
2. Palestinian Authority. It's hard to think of Israel without thinking of Palestine and the Palestinian territories who hold regular, peaceful elections to elect their leaders.
3. Lebanon. Seats in the parliament are proportioned according to the state's diverse religious and cultural communities who each elect representatives. Lebanon, unlike some other Middle East democracies, enjoys universal sufferage.
4. Turkey. Not only does Turkey also have universal suffrage, but there is a strong secular tradition as well. (Though recently there has been somewhat of a fundamentalist backlash... no doubt in response to the invasion of the region by a foreign power. In other words, fundamentalism begets fundamentalism.)

BTW, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, and Turkey where considered more democratic than Iraq in a 2008 ranking by The Economist. When considering factors such as freedom of the press, security of voters, fairness of elections, etc. Israel would probably be considered the most democratic. However, to assert that there are no democracies in the Middle East outside Israel is at best naive and at worst cynically disingenuous.

Even Iran, favorite whipping boy of the US, has elections and what might be called a hybrid theocratic democracy. Of course, if the US hadn't helped overthrow the democratically elected leadership in 1953, the country would probably be even more democratic than it is now.