Forcing Them to Be Free: Bush's Project for the Muslim World

Abstract

Employing evangelical rhetoric, the Bush administration has launched an ambitious plan to bring democracy to the Muslim world. Several past presidents of the United States have endorsed the concept of popular government for various reasons. President George W. Bush draws on democracy to fight Islamist terrorism and spread liberty. The proposed democratisation of Muslim nations embodies a complex blend of American self-interest and the paternalistic American desire to reform the world. It is unclear whether the democracy initiative will survive the Bush government. The next president may scrap the entire project as unworkable or too expensive. However, if the US democratisation policy is a long-term commitment, it raises serious theoretical and practical questions. This essay addresses some of these questions, and concludes that the Bush vision of democratising the Muslim world will fail, primarily because the US strategy to deal with political Islam is incoherent.

Keywords: Muslims, democracy, iraq, Afghanistan, evangelical rhetoric, Islam, Islamic Democracy