Democracy And Democratic Transformation In Iraq
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Elections — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Captain Ed gives us very encouraging news regarding the participation of Iraqi Sunnis in the country's political process. Essentially, the Sunnis have admitted that their boycott of the recent elections was wrong, and from the other end, the Shi'ites are reaching out to the Sunnis and encouraging Sunni political participation.
This serves to drive still more nails into the coffin of the belief that Iraq is turning into a theocratic state and that it will turn into a surrogate for Islamic hardliners in Iran. Not that we have heard the last of this increasingly debunked theory, of course--after all, the naysayers need something to hang their hats on. And while Iraq certainly is not out of the woods when it comes to avoiding the establishment of a fundamentalist theocracy, the initial signs that it will avoid being a fundamentalist theocracy should be celebrated.
UPDATE: More from Jason Broander, who reveals still further the extent to which Iraq is not becoming a theocratic regime.