Now that the process of "rebuilding Iraq has begun":http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/war-iraq/new_govt/index.asp?article=who_decides, questions have been raised about how it should be done. You have a nation that is made up of various ethnic groups, split along tribal factions. Bringing them together under a democratic umbrella, considering that they don't have a democratic tradition and culture will be challenging. Perhaps the way to go is "democracy-lite":http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/Primetime/iraq_democracy030502.html. Malaysia has been cited as an example of this type of democracy working to unite a developing nation.
bq. Bueno de Mesquita (an international politics professor at New York University) said Malaysia, another Islamic country, provided a good parallel with its tripartite populations of Chinese, Indians and Malays and its strongman, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, at the center.
bq. "Malaysia for 30 years did pretty well," he said. "The electoral system was tilted to favor Malays, but they had to get support across the board." The country has only slid recently, when the ruler began a policy of outright favoritism and edged toward authoritarianism, he said.
bq. Ziad Abdelnour, founder and co-publisher of the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, said the strong central authority was also important because democracy was such a foreign concept in the Arab world, and it would have to imposed from the top down.
bq. "In the Arab world, if someone doesn't agree, they are kidnapped, jailed or killed," Abdelnour said.
A comment on that last bit: Malaysians who "disagree" have been "kidnapped" and "jailed too":http://www.freeanwar.com/. So what's the difference?
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