Skip to Main Content

The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea

Online ISBN:
9780197579497
Print ISBN:
9780197579466
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea

Shadi Hamid
Shadi Hamid
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Find on
Published online:
15 December 2022
Published in print:
19 January 2023
Online ISBN:
9780197579497
Print ISBN:
9780197579466
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

What happens when democracy produces “bad” outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This “democratic dilemma” is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East—we want democracy in theory but not necessarily in practice. In The Problem of Democracy, Shadi Hamid offers an ambitious reimagining of this ongoing debate and argues for “democratic minimalism” as a path to resolving democratic dilemmas in the Middle East and beyond. In the seemingly eternal tension between democracy and liberalism, recognized by the ancient Greeks and the American founders alike, it may be time to prioritize one over the other, rather than acting as if the two are intertwined when increasingly they are not. At the end of the Cold War, the democratic idea was victorious, so much so that it took on more meaning than it could bear. Democracy became a means to other ends, whether it was liberalism, economic development, or cultural progress. What if, instead, democracy was reconceptualized as its own end? What if the people are right even when they’re wrong? The problem of democracy is no longer just a Middle Eastern problem. The polarizing effects of identity, culture, and religion are now haunting the world’s oldest democracies. To look then at the democratic dilemma abroad is to consider a deeper set of questions around why we believe democracy is good as well as whether we think it is good for other nations and cultures.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close