Lebanon Lessons and Iraq

[Chilly]

Throughout Lebanon's recent history, we have witnessed a nation struggling to convert to Democracy in the Middle East, faced with many obstacles to prevent this from happening. It is to the point today that Hizbollah has so much control, I would make the argument that Lebanon is turning back into a complete authoritarian regime, elections or not.

 

It is important that the US understands why democracy in Lebanon is failing. If so, the US can work to prevent these same failings in Iraq, where we (the US) are responsible for building up a successful democracy.

 

First and foremost, political parties have always been weak in Lebanese politics. According to the Wikipedia article on Lebanese political parties, "No single party has ever won more than 12.5 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, and no coalition of parties has won more than 35 percent."

 

Thats bad, extremely bad. As much as American's and TBD posters hate them, strong political parties are a necessity to democracy, and especially the democritization process. Weak political parties and weak government can lead to huge openings for the opposition to take control.

 

And you can see that in Lebanon. The central government is weak partly because political parties have done such a bad job. Rival parties have formed coalitions to just keep the government going, and unfortunately, this means that the central government remains weak. Strong political parties lead to stronger government, as the ability to get stuff done and strengthen themselves plays a huge role in whether or not it will happen. Governments start weak, then build themselves up both diplomatically and militarily.

 

The weaker political parties are, the more influence outside governments can have. Syria has built up Hez'bollah into both a political party protecting south Lebanon, and a strong military force. So strong, in fact, that H'b has a larger military then the Lebanese government does, and can force its will upon Lebanon.

 

There are several important lessons to be learned:

1.) Strong, pro-democratic parties need to exist from the very early stages of a democracy.

2.) The central government needs to build up enough power to be able to effectively protect its citizens.

3.) The central government needs to be strong enough to protect the democratic institutions from take-over by force.

4.) The country needs to be protected from outside influences as much as possible.

 

So what does this mean for Iraq?

 

Quite frankly, it means that we aren't doing everything needed. I'm unimpressed with the U.S.' ability to prop up a couple of pro-democratic political parties in Iraq. The widespread United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition in power in Iraq, includes Hezbollah Movement in Iraq, Islamic Action Organisation, and 21 others. Its quite wide and far reaching, and I wonder about its ability to strengthen the central government against terrorists trying to gain control.

 

Bush has done a decent job at building up the others structures in Iraq like the nation's defenses. However, the military isn't the only thing that needs to be built up - the structures of democracy need to be as well. Elections while the country's parties are a mess is a strong first step toward an anti-US government, something that none of us want.

[erynthered]

Throughout Lebanon's recent history, we have witnessed a nation struggling to convert to Democracy in the Middle East, faced with many obstacles to prevent this from happening.  It is to the point today that Hizbollah has so much control, I would make the argument that Lebanon is turning back into a complete authoritarian regime, elections or not.

 

It is important that the US understands why democracy in Lebanon is failing.  If so, the US can work to prevent these same failings in Iraq, where we (the US) are responsible for building up a successful democracy.

 

First and foremost, political parties have always been weak in Lebanese politics.  According to the Wikipedia article on Lebanese political parties, "No single party has ever won more than 12.5 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, and no coalition of parties has won more than 35 percent."

 

Thats bad, extremely bad.  As much as American's and TBD posters hate them, strong political parties are a necessity to democracy, and especially the democritization process.  Weak political parties and weak government can lead to huge openings for the opposition to take control.

 

And you can see that in Lebanon.  The central government is weak partly because political parties have done such a bad job.  Rival parties have formed coalitions to just keep the government going, and unfortunately, this means that the central government remains weak.  Strong political parties lead to stronger government, as the ability to get stuff done and strengthen themselves plays a huge role in whether or not it will happen.  Governments start weak, then build themselves up both diplomatically and militarily.

 

The weaker political parties are, the more influence outside governments can have.  Syria has built up Hez'bollah into both a political party protecting south Lebanon, and a strong military force.  So strong, in fact, that H'b has a larger military then the Lebanese government does, and can force its will upon Lebanon.

 

There are several important lessons to be learned:

1.) Strong, pro-democratic parties need to exist from the very early stages of a democracy.

2.) The central government needs to build up enough power to be able to effectively protect its citizens.

3.) The central government needs to be strong enough to protect the democratic institutions from take-over by force.

4.) The country needs to be protected from outside influences as much as possible.

 

So what does this mean for Iraq?

 

Quite frankly, it means that we aren't doing everything needed.  I'm unimpressed with the U.S.' ability to prop up a couple of pro-democratic political parties in Iraq.  The widespread United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition in power in Iraq, includes Hezbollah Movement in Iraq, Islamic Action Organisation, and 21 others.  Its quite wide and far reaching, and I wonder about its ability to strengthen the central government against terrorists trying to gain control.

 

Bush has done a decent job at building up the others structures in Iraq like the nation's defenses.  However, the military isn't the only thing that needs to be built up - the structures of democracy need to be as well.  Elections while the country's parties are a mess is a strong first step toward an anti-US government, something that none of us want.

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Interesting, who wrote this?

[Chilly]

Interesting, who wrote this?

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[erynthered]

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