Politics. `Road Blocks to Democracy in Iraq.

p Roadblocks to Democracy in Iraq

I : Introduction

One of the key questions in international politics right now is the question of whether democracy can succeed in Iraq . If the current political and military situation in Iraq is any indication the road to becoming a democratic nation will be a difficult one . The Iraqi people have several difficulties to overcome before democracy in the Western sense of the term will be an effective means of government . Democracy at least in the Western sense of the term may never truly work in Iraq

as the cultural norms and values of the Iraqi people are not based on Greco-Roman traditions of democratic thought as they are in the West

Four major problems are proving to be the most difficult for them to overcome . First , the rift between the Sunni , Shia , and Kurdish peoples of Iraq are having an impact on the current government 's ability to govern Iraq . These tribal and religious divisions have been occurring for hundreds of years and the international community cannot expect this to change overnight . The second major difficulty is that the behavior of Iraqi insurgent groups and foreign terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda are creating a situation of civil unrest in Iraq . What is left of the nation 's infrastructure after the rule of Saddam Hussein is being destroyed by insurgent actions . This will make the task of rebuilding Iraq that much more difficult for the new government

Third , the people of Iraq have never lived under a democratic regime therefore , their expectation is that all governments are the same and that the new government is likely to be just as corrupt as the Hussein regime . Finally , the most massive roadblock to democracy in Iraq is the fact that this is democracy by international decree rather than by the choice of the Iraqi people . Countries in which democracy has been unequivocally successful have been nations that chose to rebel against an oppressive government on their own . Democracy has to be a choice from the start in to succeed

The main goal of this is to discuss each of these issues at length , and to analyze how they can influence the degree to which democracy is successful in Iraq . The road to democracy is never an easy one . The United States should realize this more than any other nation in the world . The original thirteen colonies fought for nearly ten years to establish their independence from Great Britain . Even the United States experienced chaos and civil unrest in the years between 1783 and 1787 while they were deciding what form the new nation would take . The United States knows how difficult the process of becoming free is , and therefore we should be patient with Iraq as they go through the same process that we did 210 years ago

II : Literature Review

The first years of existence for a democracy are the most hazardous Nations do not yet have fully formed ideas on where they are...