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Let’s support Arab political unity in order to achieve Arab world democratisation
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by
Franck Biancheri:
President of TIESWeb and Director for Studies and Strategy
of Europe 2020.
12/12/2003 |
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It is time for Europeans
to understand that democracy is indeed
a key issue in the Arab world whether
in the ‘US zone of influence’
or within the ‘European one’.
President Bush may be wrong in almost
every aspects of his policy towards
the Arab world. But he is right when
he says that democratisation should
be put on top of Western priorities
when dealing with the Arab world. Though,
this being said, the US should also
recognize that they do not have the
faintest idea of how to implement this
objective.
The war in Iraq definitely
does not offer any hint in that direction.
It just provides a new chaotic environment
where everything, but mostly the worst,
can blossom.
Let’s have Europe
innovate and try to make the best of
the new situation created by the end
of Cold War and the invasion of Iraq.
The recently held top-level
seminar organized by Europe 2020 on
future relations between EU and Arab
world may provide some original strategic
directions:
1.
the biggest opponents to democracy
in the Arab world are the Arab states
themselves: based upon a mixture of
bureaucratic structures, military
power and economic elites, no progress
for democratisation can take place
until those forces have been significantly
weakened.
2.
the main reason to Arab resentment
towards the West and the rest of the
world (a resentment used by all demagogic
forces at play, including terrorists
organizations such as Al Qaïda)
lies in the Arab world’s incapacity
to develop into a serious player in
any field of 21st century global world
(from economics to politics, from
culture to social development). No
progress in terms of democracy nor
fight against terrorism will take
place until the Arabs have become
fully-fledged 21st century citizens.
3.
most of the objective problems faced
by Arab countries are common (poor access
to water supply, high demographic expansion,
low rates of economic growth, low education
levels, fast growing poverty), including
the fact that many of them own some
of the most important oil and gas reserves
in the world. Real solutions will necessarily
be those addressing common problems.
All
those elements pile up into one logical
conclusion: having spent the last 2
centuries dividing the Arab world in
order to rule it, the West must become
aware of all the reasons now compelling
them to reverse the trend and support
every possible attempt to achieve the
Arab political unity within two decades.
Pushing for Maghreb unity, Euromed area
or Middle East regional deals are still
part of the ‘divide and rule’
process. These policies are not leading
us, nor Arabs, anywhere.
Europe 2020 has come to the conclusion
that it was the only way to reach objectives
of democratisation, economic and social
development and peaceful global integration
of the region.
For a 20 year old Arab, the only thing
which can defeat the call for Jihad
is a serious Arab unity project, heavily
supported by the West, just as the USA
did it in the 50s/60s with the European
unity project.
Rationale is simple. Implementation
is at reach. Instruments may be easily
developed: funding in priority structural
reforms serving trans-Arab cooperation
in all sectors rather than building
national champions in each Arab state.
Catch 22 question: Will the Arab world
see in more positive eyes a West that
supports trans-Arab cooperation; or
one that favours each Arab state’s
bilateral relation to the West? Make
a guess!
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