Monday, September 13, 2004
How to Wage Peace
Ever heard of Fareed Zakaria? International editor of Newsweek, regular on "This Week" on ABC, and guest columnist all over the place. He's has a B.A. from Yale (in history) and a Ph.D. from Harvard (in international relations). He's generally conservative (as in small government conservative), hawkish, and socially liberal.
He was an advocate for the war in Iraq but cautioned then that the rebuilding would be critical and that we needed to do a better job than we were doing in Afghanistan at the time.
I wish I could come up with a sexy, enticing way to get you toread his article on how to wage peace in the Middle East. Zakaria discusses countries that have made successful transitions to democracies. He argues that capitalism has to come first. We can't just go into a country, set up free elections, and think that'll do it. And contrary to Cheney's assertion that Iraq's oil makes it easier for them, Zakaria explains why oil-rich countries have an even tougher time converting to representational democracies.
Zakaria notes that "Easy money means a government doesn't have to tax its people. When a government takes money from its people, the people demand something in return eventually, democracy. This bargain, between taxation and representation, is at the heart of Western liberty."
I can't make it sexy, but I found his take on democratization of other nations to be extremely compelling. Check it out for yourself: http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/042103.html
He was an advocate for the war in Iraq but cautioned then that the rebuilding would be critical and that we needed to do a better job than we were doing in Afghanistan at the time.
I wish I could come up with a sexy, enticing way to get you to
Zakaria notes that "Easy money means a government doesn't have to tax its people. When a government takes money from its people, the people demand something in return eventually, democracy. This bargain, between taxation and representation, is at the heart of Western liberty."
I can't make it sexy, but I found his take on democratization of other nations to be extremely compelling. Check it out for yourself: http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/042103.html
