Democracy is spreading everywhere except in the Arab world. Arab elections are an immense masquerade. Corrupt dictatorships seek to stifle freedom of thought and to control the flow of information.
About the Authors
Mohamed Talbi
Mohamed Talbi is a Tunisian historian who has authored a number of books and articles on the history of the Maghreb. His more recent publications, which have focused on issues related to Islam, include Iyal Allah (God’s family), published in French translation in 1996 as Plaidoyer pour un Islam moderne.
The year 2001 saw modest gains in the strengthening and consolidation of democracy worldwide, but in predominantly Muslim countries—especially the Arab states—the status of freedom and democracy lags far behind…
January’s remarkably free and fair parliamentary elections broke the PLO’s longstanding monopoly over Palestinian politics. Given Fatah’s disarray and the difficulties facing Hamas, there is now a window of opportunity…
The global democratic decline of the last two decades is rarely discussed in the same breath with the 2003 decision by the United States and Britain to invade Iraq. But…
