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Iraq Can Wait for Democracy
From The New York Times, an article by Noah Feldman, a professor of law at New York University, a fellow at the New America Foundation, and the author of the forthcoming What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building..... a postponement [of elections] wouldn't be the end of the world; in fact, it might be just what is needed to ensure that all of the country's ethnic and religious groups view the election as legitimate. .... Without Sunni participation, the election results would be worse than useless. To understand why, one must bear in mind that the purpose of the election is not just to choose a legitimate government but also to elect leaders who can negotiate a new and permanent Iraqi constitution. Although such a constitution would guarantee basic rights, it would be first and foremost a power-sharing deal reached among different factions of Iraqis - Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni. Thus if the Sunnis were excluded because of security problems, or if they boycotted, they would not be able to elect leaders empowered to negotiate on their behalf, and the resulting constitutional deal would be rejected by the great majority of Sunnis as illegitimate. .... Although some Sunni clerics have advised their followers to sit out the election, the situation could change if it is made clear to the insurgents that, while they cannot win a war, they have the real possibility of gaining a stake in the resources of the new Iraq by participating in government. In the long run, the only way to end the terror is to dry up the sea of Sunni resentment. This will require both the stick of military suppression and the carrot of political incentive. If the Sunnis cannot or will not vote, protracted civil war lies ahead. Creating conditions in which Sunnis will vote may take some time, but it would be time well spent. If this means delaying the election, so be it. The January deadline is just as arbitrary as every other deadline in the transition process, and it would be counterproductive to enforce it if the election was then seen as illegitimate. As for Ayatollah Sistani, his particular problem is with a plan by some leading parties, most representing Kurdish and Shiite exiles, to form a single ticket, or "consensus list." The list could well dominate the ballot, and Ayatollah Sistani is concerned that, as things stand, it would result in Shiites making up only about 55 percent of the new government. This number, he feels, is based on outdated figures that underestimate the Shiite percentage of the population. ... Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-09-24 |
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