Sunday, September 17, 2006
Do we need to teach Chicago-style politics to Iraqis?
Eric Davis, a Middle East expert and professor of political science at Rutgers, doesn't quite say that Iraq needs to develop old-fashioned ethnic ward politics, but I think that is what he means. In a lengthy op-ed in this morning's Newark Star-Ledger, Professor Davis argues against either a scheduled withdrawal of American soldiers or the division of Iraq into sections dominated by one or another ethnic group. The headline to his article is "Democracy is the only option," but in the end he proposes the gritty politics of the Chicago machine or Tammany Hall rather than the transparent honesty of a campaign for governor in Iowa.
A third option is to strengthen Iraqi democracy by initiating policies that would lead to greater stability, offer Iraqis more hope in the future, and create an environment supportive of economic growth. Iraq does not have a history of sectarianism. The Iraqi nationalist movement, which flourished between 1920 and 1963, when the first Ba'athist regime seized power and repressed it, emphasized cross-eth nic cooperation and promoted building a civil society. Iraq also has no tradition of Islamic radicalism. It was only after the collapse of Iraq's welfare state following the 1991 Gulf War that Islamist organizations began to offer the services no longer provided by the state. With severe economic decline caused by the U.N. sanctions im posed on Iraq after the Gulf War, and the spread of corruption and increased repression by Saddam Hussein's regime, many Iraqis began to turn inward to religion and ethnic identities to escape the horrors of everyday life. In other words, the rise of sectarianism was caused by economic and political decay....
With the United States already contributing a significant amount of funds to Iraq, and facing a large budget deficit, one idea would be for the U.S. government to lobby our Arab oil-producing allies, particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the Arab Gulf oil producers, who have benefited by recent steep increases in the price of oil, to make major contributions to such a fund. An economic reconstruction fund that had an "Arab face" would not be subject to accusations that the United States was trying to "control" Iraq, thereby making the fund politically accept able in Iraq....
If the U.S. and other Arab allies could convince wealthy Arab oil producers to contribute to a reconstruction fund, how might such a fund help put Iraq on the road to stability and democracy? Initially, the funds could be used to create WPA-type jobs reminiscent of the New Deal. Such jobs would replicate the Commanders' Economic Response Program that the U.S. military has used so successfully to quell political violence. CERP funds have created temporary jobs for men in areas characterized by high levels of insurgent activity, leading to a sharp decline in violence, gratitude on the part of those Iraqis put to work, and benefits to the local community, such as the removal of garbage and sewage, filling potholes and paving roads, repairing schools and police stations, rebuilding sewer systems, drilling water wells, clearing irrigation canals and building clinics....
One of the most significant benefits of this two-stage program would be the development of a new incentive structure with which to entice local leaders in Iraq's major cities and towns to compete for the distribution of economic largesse rather than engage in political violence. Providing economic resources in kind (not in the form of cash, which could be used to purchase weapons) would act as an in centive to bring local leaders and notables into the economic reconstruction project. In return for their assistance in promoting economic stability, these leaders would receive a wide variety of goods and services which they could use to enhance their status in their respective communities. A new school, new medical technology for a local hospital, expanding orphanages, creating public parks, are all projects that local leaders could point to as bringing benefits to their communities.
While Iraqis will probably not call the "distribution of economic largesse" pork, that is what at least some of these programs would turn into (however meritorious many reconstruction and new infrustructure projects may be). So what? It took the United States a very long time -- well over 150 years -- even to realize that there was anything troubling about politicians attracting and retaining support through the distribution of goodies. Even now, most Americans -- at least those familiar with the rough and tumble of city politics -- only believe that pork is corrupt if it depends on an actual financial quid pro quo.
Now, there have been no end of allegations that Iraq is plenty corrupt already, and that billions of dollars have been squandered. No doubt that is true, but so far that corruption has not been deployed to build up the status of local Iraqi leaders. Perhaps we need to embrace the corruption, and teach Iraqis how to use a spoils system in the service of electoral politics. Purists will argue that to do that is to betray our declared ambition for a transparent Iraqi democracy. The response, of course, is that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. American democracy was built on public works, from the filling of potholes to the Hoover Dam. Why not push Iraq in that same direction?
2 Comments:
By 
SeekerBlog.com, at
Sun Sep 17, 12:43:00 PM:
Tigerhawk,
Thanks for the post - as you wrote "the perfect should not be the enemy of the good" - there will be problems such as Shochu John outlines.
But jobs and basic services are necessary conditions to political success. E.g., yesterday I listened to a DOD podcast of LTG Peter Chiarelli's Sept 15 briefing. He is of course being grilled on the Devlin Anbar leak. Repeatedly Chiarelli emphasized the critical importance of jobs. E.g., he said "without fail, whenever I ask tribal leaders what we can do to help reduce the violence, they say 'create jobs for the angry young men'".
http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/podcast/media/bbBrief9-15-0900.mp3
By Steel Monkey, at
Sun Sep 17, 10:46:00 PM:
Do we need to teach Chicago-style politics to Iraqis?
I think a nation's politics is reflective of a nation's culture. So, I don't think it's really possible to transplant Chicago politics or culture to Iraq.
I do, however, believe that Iraq's culture has already changed significantly from what it was in March 2003. You have an elected parliament and Iraqi security forces numbering almost 300,000. Iraqis are more and more "in the lead" in security operations.
Recently there was a debate in the Iraqi parliament over federalism and different Shia political factions took differing positions on the idea of forming a Shia sub-state that would include 9 Shia dominated provinces. This federalism idea was ultimately defeated in the Iraqi parliament.
Not bad for a nation that just a few years ago handled "differnces of opinion" by loading people into mass graves. Clearly, however, the violence in Baghdad and elsewhere demonstrates that Iraqis have a way to go in using non-violent political means for overcoming difference of opinion.
Think about the American Civil War and its after math for a minute....
If you had been alive in 1863, watching Americans slaughter each other relentlessly, you might have thought that the chances of the US becoming the nation is became in the twentieth century were close to zero.
After the war ended you might have looked at the culture and politics of the American South and wondered what had really changed. The Fifteenth Amendment supposedly guaranteed Blacks the right to vote. But making this amendment a reality required the federal government's precence in the American South. And even then Southern Whites worked hard to bring back the "old order." (Kind of reminds you of the Sunni Arabs, doesn't it?) By 1877 the federal government withdrew from Southern politics and the Southern Whites gradually began taking away Black voting rights (and other civil rights) through terrorism. By 1900 not a single African-American was elected to Congress from the South, despite the large number of "eligible" Black voters.
The parallels between the American South from 1861-1965 and today's Iraq have not been studied enough, in my opinion.
