Canada and the Middle East: In Theory and Practice

6. Canadian Interests and Democracy Promotion in the Middle East

I n January 2006, Hamas won a sweeping majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Despite having helped facilitate and monitor the elections, the government of Canada was the first state to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority following Hamas’s victory in the elections for its refusal to recognize Israel and for its terrorist activities.2 The United States and the European Union followed suit. The issue of Hamas’s electoral victory raises some of the most difficult issues and questions for states engaged in democracy promotion in the Middle East, specifically with regard to Islamist groups that have deep roots and popularity within Middle Eastern society.3 Is the aim of democracy promotion to strengthen democratic structures and procedures or values? What if the structure and procedures Canada supports produce winners with values Canadians do not support? To what extent should Canada engage with actors that have popular legitimacy and support but do not have a liberal democratic agenda? What if, as is the case with some Islamist organizations, they have a military wing in addition to their social and political wings or directly or indirectly support what the government of Canada deems to be terrorist activities? At the very core of these questions, indeed of the notion of promoting democracy itself, are two very basic questions: To whom should one talk? Who are the reformers? This chapter argues that if democracy promotion is to be successful, then Canada must engage with all political and civil society actors, including moderate Islamist organizations and actors that come to power legally through democratic elections. If the government of Canada is unwilling to engage with moderate Islamist forces, Canada should reconsider democracy promotion as a primary foreign policy objective in the Middle East. This position is taken largely from the perspective of Canadian interests. Namely, an inconsistency in implementing Canadian-promoted values or an inconsistency in how Janine A. Clark 6 Canadian Interests and Democracy Promotion in the Middle East1 91 Canada treats actors only serves to undermine its programs, credibility, and values . Ultimately, in today’s political climate of growing anti-westernism, inconsistency not only discredits pro-democracy activists and democratic reforms in the region, but the perceived western hypocrisy it breeds also potentially threatens Canada’s security interests by reinforcing a militant Islamist worldview of the West. To be sure, identifying moderate Islamists, much less engaging with them, is far easier said than done.4 The International Crisis Group defines Islamism as the active assertion and promotion of beliefs, prescriptions, laws, or policies that are held to be Islamic in character (International Crisis Group 2005, 1). Moderate Islamist organizations are commonly defined as those Islamists who are deemed non-violent and non-revolutionary, as they work within society and within the legal political system by engaging in party politics, for example, and have a political agenda that recognizes and is limited to the nation-state and is not aimed at the creation of a pan-Islamic state. While making important distinctions between moderate and radical Islamism, this definition masks more than it reveals. Finding moderate Islamism according to this definition is a difficult task as Islamist groups are internally diverse, often having factions or streams that include those with moderate and radical religious interpretations and activities they are willing to support or engage. In addition, Islamist networks overlap, resulting in cross-membership among segments of moderate and more radical Islamist groups. Furthermore, the agendas of moderate Islamist organizations are often vaguely stated—with few specifics regarding areas of concern to western governments, such as pluralism , the competition for power, freedom of religion, and rights for ethnic minorities and women. Despite these challenges, engaging with moderate Islamists does not mean agreeing with or funding them. Rather, it entails dialogue and inclusion. This chapter begins with a brief discussion of democracy promotion in Canada. It is followed by three main sections examining the growing antiwesternism in the region today, the nature of civil society in the Middle East, and the nature of Islamist movements and organizations, respectively. These three factors are integral to understanding the context within which Canadian democracy promotion operates in the region and the implications of this context for Canada’s interests and policies. It concludes with advice to the Canadian government in its response to these factors. Democracy Promotion The government of Canada identifies democracy promotion, along with human rights and the rule of law, as a core...