Promote Democracy Abroad?

I agree with Joseph Siegle's ideas in "Developing Democracy: Democratizers' Surprisingly Bright Development Record." However, Tamara Cofman Wittes had good points about U.S. involvement with the regimes in Iraq and the war. In his essay Josephy Siegle pointed out that more than two-thirds of the countries in the world rule democratically in some form. He also stated how democratic countries are more likely to have political and economic ties which increases peace and stability. He left no doubt that a democracy is the best thing for a country with his explanation of "life expectancy, illiteracy, and access to clean drinking water" (42). A good point made was "that while established democracies are less prone to engage in risky behavior, states undergoing the process of democratization are more prone than others to do so" (41). This can relate to the situation in Iraq with the whole war causing a lot of controversy allowing more room for engagement in risky behavior. If we are over in Iraq we need to hold our ground and make enforcements. Re-direct the money from rewarding Arab governments for limited reform to establishing accountability institutions. Joseph Siegle stated in his essay: "the transition to democracy is difficult and likely to fail in the Middle East unless the United States dedicates itself to creating the institutions necessary to make it work over the long haul" (41). This is where Tamara Wittes and Joseph seem to agree. Some of the institutions were pointed out in Joseph's essay when he said, "...internal efforts should focus on enhancing the capacity of deomcratizing countries' institutions of accountability: strengthening the caliber of the civil service, the judiciary, the oversight of the executive branch, and the autonomy of the private sector from political in fluences" (49).

We have been involved in the war in Iraq too long to quit now. We have to fufill our goal in order to feel accomplished. If we left now I believe we would be leaving Iraq in a much worse state than when the war started. Tamara said, "America cannot promote democracy in the Arab world unless its strategy is credible. That requires staying the course in Iraq" (56).