Why democracy will never work in Iraq

On April 9, 2003, a US Marine corporal climbed the statue of ousted Iraqi president, Suddam Hussein. He roped a steel hawser around the statue’s neck and it was pulled to the ground, signifying the beginning the US mission to “liberate” Iraq and install democratic institutions. However, the US proposition of democracy in Iraq is in an improbable idea. Western style democracy will not work in Iraq because:

1. Iraqi culture places value upon human relationships and the preservation of harmony and face. The government emphasises homogeneity, fraternity and solidarity. Fraternity is strongly related to the tribal culture of the Iraqi people. Within this tribal culture, national figures of unity and strength are sheikhs and tribal leaders. To succeed in Iraq, democracy must take into account the importance of tribal culture. However, Western democratic governments are inseparable from media politics and the neo-liberal market, which inevitably produce radical individualism. Individualism threatens the tribal and religious divisions of Iraq. In contrast, Western culture is loosely integrated reflects a passion for freedom. The US government also promotes equality, a dominant cultural myth in Western society, as seen in the Equal Opportunity Laws of the US. These major cultural differences show why democracy will not work in Iraq.

2. There is also a contrast in Arab and Western worldviews. Worldview refers to a culture’s most fundamental beliefs about “its place in the cosmos”, religious beliefs, and beliefs about the nature of humanity. The Arab worldview is dominated by Islamic religious attitudes, dictating that humans cannot control the world and that God holds utmost power. Article 7 of Iraq’s interim constitution stated, “Islam is the official religion of the State and is to be considered a source of legislation”. This directly opposes the worldview promoted by the US, where government is not influenced as much by religion as by science and technology. As Alex de Tocqueville said, “[in the United States] they all consider society as a body in a state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which nothing is, or ought to be permanent”. The scientific approach of the US government is seen in the $533.8 billion military budget for 2010 and the array of high tech, destructive weaponry that the US holds.

3.If the US government is ruled by a religion, its name is capitalism. The West is ruled by wealth and free market economies. Labour is seen as a way to get rich. In the Arab world, labour is viewed as a duty and a virtue.

4.The more democratic governments implanted in the Middle East, the more extremist and authoritarian it will become. The rise of extremist groups shows the immense resistance to Western values and beliefs. It shows that Iraqis largely view democracy as an arrogant assertion of American cultural superiority and as a brutal disregard to the values of the Iraqi people. There has been a recent upsurge of violence in Iraqi provinces previously considered “secure”. Anbar province has experience a sudden recurrence in bombings, assassinations and violence. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=337822&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

This is my view on why democracy cannot work in Iraq. Relations between the West and Iraq cannot improve while US forces attempt to colonize Iraq, as the contradiction between the US as democratic model and an invading force is too obvious. Improving relations instead involves the Middle East being left to evolve without foreign attempts to impose political structures.