DEMOCRACY’S RIPPLE EFFECT
Following on the heels of Iraq’s historic election.The House of Saud dips its toe into democratic waters.
A lot of the quotes in the article are heartwarming. We should remember however that this was in a) a major urban center b) the reporter spoke to a lot of people with advanced degrees and most likely to hold liberal views and speak English and c) the scope of the franchise and offices was severely restricted. Nevertheless, it’s a good start and it is worthy of praise from the United States and Western countries. The al-Saud have been toying with this idea for several years but the positive outcome in Iraq certainly added an impetus by removing some of the likely objections of non-extremist Saudi conservatives.
On a personal note any further blogging today will have to wait until very late this evening. I am totally swamped with meetings and projects at work and a bombastic tantrum is probably in the offing.
February 10th, 2005 at 5:02 pm
Technically speaking, the Saudi municipal elections have been planned for quite a while, but, yeah, they’re a step forward.
February 11th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
Hi prak
True but part of the war of ideas aspect is giving credit where it is due. Moderate Muslims standing up to extremism and regimes engaging in real reform ( democratic or economic)need some kind of recognition from us( and least the kind that won’t boomerang back at them).