Jonathan Cristol: Doubling Down on Arab Dictatorships
[Jonathan Cristol is Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Studies.]
A few years ago a friend of mine called me “Edmund Burke” as a pejorative. I took it as a compliment. I prefer slow, careful, incremental change to broad-based, fast-paced change. I believe that deliberative change is generally more beneficial to the American people, than the widespread rioting and upheavals sweeping the Middle East. These anti-government riots may seem like a good thing because they are occurring in authoritarian countries, but no one seems to be asking, “What comes next?”
My friend Dahlia Scheindlin says “liberty and justice are indeed for all” and that she is “deeply moved by the events in Tunisia.” I am not moved. I am nervous. Maybe liberty and justice are indeed for all, but these particular protests are not necessarily good for the United States. America’s love of democracy sometimes blinds us to the potential results of the democratic process (re: Gaza) and to the fact that liberty and democracy do not always go hand in hand.
For more than 30 years, America has supported Arab dictatorships and that support has cost America the support of the “Arab street.” Now that the “street” is rising up it is time to (quietly) double down on our support for friendly Arab regimes and not look at the protests through starry-eyed lenses.
The riots that began in Tunisia more than one month ago have now spread to Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, and points beyond. It seems that authoritarian governments cannot defeat the Twitter and Facebook powered masses of people yearning for freedom (or at least, for less corrupt and more responsive governance) in the Middle East. These riots present a very difficult dilemma for the United States. For centuries, the United States has advocated democratic government and bringing the “power to the people.” However, in each of these countries the United States might be better served by restoration of the status quo....
Read entire article at American Interest (Blog)
A few years ago a friend of mine called me “Edmund Burke” as a pejorative. I took it as a compliment. I prefer slow, careful, incremental change to broad-based, fast-paced change. I believe that deliberative change is generally more beneficial to the American people, than the widespread rioting and upheavals sweeping the Middle East. These anti-government riots may seem like a good thing because they are occurring in authoritarian countries, but no one seems to be asking, “What comes next?”
My friend Dahlia Scheindlin says “liberty and justice are indeed for all” and that she is “deeply moved by the events in Tunisia.” I am not moved. I am nervous. Maybe liberty and justice are indeed for all, but these particular protests are not necessarily good for the United States. America’s love of democracy sometimes blinds us to the potential results of the democratic process (re: Gaza) and to the fact that liberty and democracy do not always go hand in hand.
For more than 30 years, America has supported Arab dictatorships and that support has cost America the support of the “Arab street.” Now that the “street” is rising up it is time to (quietly) double down on our support for friendly Arab regimes and not look at the protests through starry-eyed lenses.
The riots that began in Tunisia more than one month ago have now spread to Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, and points beyond. It seems that authoritarian governments cannot defeat the Twitter and Facebook powered masses of people yearning for freedom (or at least, for less corrupt and more responsive governance) in the Middle East. These riots present a very difficult dilemma for the United States. For centuries, the United States has advocated democratic government and bringing the “power to the people.” However, in each of these countries the United States might be better served by restoration of the status quo....