Exporting Democracy: What Have We Learned from Iraq?

Baghdad: Although there are arguably many different kinds of democracies in the world, an Arab one has yet to be established. Iraq is not the first attempt; elections organized largely domestically have been a regular, if not frequent, occurrence in the Arab world. One only need think back to elections that by any reasonable standard were fair: the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 1995 (in addition to subnational elections, for trade union or student body organizations, that do take place regularly), Yemeni elections for both Parliament and the president, and a series of elections in Lebanon. Iraq itself has had three elections since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. But in no case have these elections, even when relatively successful, led to or even appreciably advanced the growth of democratic systems in these countries.