Abstract
American Ambassador Christopher Hill said this coming Sunday’s general election in Iraq will “determine the quality of Iraqi democracy.” His frank statement in an interview with NPR’s Tom Ashbrook begs the question: who exactly determines the quality of Iraqi democracy? Is there a fixed standard? Not to my knowledge. True, the general election in Iraq will seat a new government that is selected by the people at large. In that sense, democracy is achieved. The level of violence that accompanies the process and the degree of public acceptance of the results is probably what Ambassador Hill is referring to — less violence and more acceptance equals higher quality of democracy. So stability seems to be a key benchmark for determining a democracy’s maturity. This is only Iraq’s second general election. Isn’t that a bit unrealistic? The country is still occupied by U.S. forces and remains largely split along sectarian lines (Sunni Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shiite Arabs).