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Originally Posted by politicophile
I find this attitude somewhat paternalistic. Iraqi voter turnout in the recent elections has been as high or higher than that in the United States. There were irregularities and a few instances of violence and intimidation, but even the elections' biggest critics had to admit that the process went very smoothly. Given this history, I don't understand what it would mean for the Iraqi people to not be "ready for democracy".
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Perhaps. What I am getting at is that there really isn't a culture of democracy there yet. Sure things went smoothly and that bodes well. Things went smoothly in Weimar Germany as well. Now I am not attempting to draw the conclusion that they are headed towards Facism. What I am trying to show is that, like Iraq today, Weimar Germany did not not have a culture of democracy when it was thrust upon them post WWI.
In order for democracy to work (amongst other things) you need to have a populace that trusts the system to work. That the government in power can meet *all* the people's needs. That just because a sunni is in power the shias won't go without or wosrse.
I get the feeling that these concerns are at the base of the growing civil war (amongst other historical issues). That fundamentally there is no faith in the democratic process... it will come with time as the populace grows accustomed to the process. But these years of "getting used to it" will be full of turmoil.