12/03/2004|||110207590242122115||||||

ISLAM & LIBERTY

In the latest issue of Commentary, the peerless James Q. Wilson offers a reasonably optimistic overview of the prospects for political reform in the Islamic world. As far as I recall, he was much less hopeful when he spoke at a Civitas seminar a year or more ago. In his new essay, however, he does make a distinction between championing liberalism and democracy:

"Freedom—that is, liberalism—is more important than democracy because freedom produces human opportunity. In the long run, however, democracy is essential to freedom, because no political regime will long maintain the freedoms it has provided if it has an ironclad grip on power. Culture and constitutions can produce freedom; democracy safeguards and expands it.

"This is what lies at the heart of our efforts to make Afghanistan and Iraq into liberal states."

As for Iraq itself, Wilson says what while polls suggest that support for multi-party democracy is fragile (well, 40 per cent is pretty good, in the circumstances) the other main indicator is encouraging:

"The good news is that, as compared with support for democracy, support for a liberal regime is very broad. Over 90 percent want free speech, about three-fourths want freedom of religion, and over three-fourths favor free assembly. Freedom is more important than democracy—a fact that might well have been true in America and England in the 18th century."

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2004/12/islam-democracy-safeguards-and-expands.html|||12/03/2004 01:10:00 pm|||||||||

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