Where are we today, 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, in terms of the democratic reform process and democratic development (human rights, civil society, electoral democracy) of the Middle East ? Where is the Middle East heading on, 20 years from now? Is there any relationship between promoting democracy and a a more peaceful and stable Middle East ? Shadi Hamid, a regional expert from Middle East has answered to all these questions for FP Romania

Autocracy is not and cannot be a permanent solution – and there is little reason to think that the Middle East is somehow an exception to history. Rather, the region’s lack of democracy is a function of clearly discernible factors, many of them external. Western powers have worked, rather consistently, to undermine democratic movements in the region, the most obvious example being the CIA-sponsored coup that toppled the Mossadegh government in Iran. Today, the United States continues to financially and militarily support the region’s most repressive regimes to the tune of billions of dollars per year. Egypt has long been the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance while Jordan is the second-largest per-capita recipient. This despite the fact that both countries have become considerably less open and more repressive over the last 20 years. The Islamist opposition in Egypt is currently experiencing the worst wave of government repression since the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s. Since 2006, the Mubarak regime has embarked on a systematic campaign to erase the Muslim Brotherhood from the political map and is doing so with few objections from the United States and European Union. It is odd that Western policymakers insist on asking why the region is so thoroughly autocratic while simultaneously authorizing the funding that ensures the persistence of such an outcome.

An Arab Spri