From Deseret News archives:
Democracy unsure in Middle East, professor says
U.S. influence in Iraq, Afghanistan not helping, he says
Stanley Katz, director of Princeton's Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, told about 100 students and professors at Utah Valley State College that formalities such as written constitutions and free and fair elections does not necessarily mean that the democracies are solidified in the two Middle East countries, despite what President Bush and his administration may say.
A constitution "doesn't come about in a society without struggle to make it real," he said.
Constitutions reflect values that may be different from the liberal enlightened tradition in the West. What Americans identify as fundamental rights may be different in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.
Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Katz said a conference in England discussed Iraq's future government. People at the conference talked about how the Iraqi people would struggle with the concept of separation of three powers — executive, legislative and judicial. A Supreme Court with a chief justice would guard the constitution. The constitution was even to have a document similar to the U.S. Bill of Rights, he said.
"This is an attempt to transfer the American system on another country," he said.
Iraqis have in fact written their own constitution, however, it doesn't go into effect until months after a permanent government is elected into office, he said.
"Even at this point, a constitution-making process is pretty much up for grabs," Katz said.
Katz said that U.S. intervention and government-making in Iraq and Afghanistan is nothing similar to its efforts in Germany and Japan after World War II.
The circumstances were different, Katz said. Germany and Japan declared and waged war against the United States, were defeated and surrendered unconditionally. They respected U.S. military presence to rebuild their countries, emerged as democracies and remained strong allies, ironically, until the United States invaded Iraq.
In the initial years after World War II, there were 100 U.S. military personnel to every 1,000 Germans. By contrast, there are only 6 U.S. soldiers to 1,000 Iraqis.
"It seems perfectly obvious politically that we are going in the opposite direction," he said.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
