"Many believe the Arabs want freedom and democracy. Westerners tend to think of democracy in our own terms - that's natural and normal - to mean periodic elections in our style. But it's a mistake to try to think of the Middle East in those terms and that can only lead to disastrous results, as we've already seen in various places. Hamas did not establish a democratic regime when it came to power through a free and fair election.
I am mistrustful and view with apprehension a genuinely free election - assuming that such a thing could happen - because the religious parties have an immediate advantage. First, they have a network of communication through the preacher and the mosque which no other political group can hope to equal. Second, they use familiar, indigenous, language. The language of Western democracy is for the most part newly translated and the concepts are not readily intelligible to the general population, A dash toward Western-style elections, far from representing a solution to the region's difficulties, constitutes a dangerous aggravation of the problem and I fear that radical Islam movements are ready to exploit so misguided a move. In genuinely fair and free elections, the Muslim parties are very likely to win. A much better course would be a gradual development of democracy, not through general elections, but rather through civil society and the strengthening of local institutions. For that, there is a real tradition in the region."
Bernard Lewis
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