Prospects For Democracy

FORUM l THE PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRACY for Iraq after the war was the subject of an intense but civil discussion at the Kennedy School Forum just hours before the bombs began falling on Baghdad.

Stephen Walt, academic dean, characterized the war in Iraq as an “old story” of “stronger nations imposing their will on weaker ones.” American experiences in exporting peace and democracy historically have failed, he said, pointing to Cuba, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Korea, Vietnam, among others. The invasion of Iraq is a “grand social science experiment,” which has tremendous human and fiscal costs to be incurred, he said.

Iraqi-born Kanan Makiya, adjunct professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, challenged Walt, saying there is “no reason to think that Iraq can’t make a break” into a more democratic form of government. Makiya held up a book given to him by a representative of the Kurds, which described 396 eliminated villages. This is “only 10 percent of the known villages wiped out,” he said emphatically.

Michael Ignatieff, director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, surprised the standing-room-only crowd of mainly students with his qualified support for the war. While acknowledging the risk of setting a precedent through an invasion of Iraq, he argued the action is warranted because of Saddam Hussein’s horrible record on human rights coupled with his possession of weapons of mass destruction and his control of 50 percent of the proven world’s oil reserves.

“There are costs to prudence and there are costs to realism and there are costs to the avoidance of conflict,” he said. “All the counsels of prudence and wisdom and care in statecraft have a cost: 25 million people remain in jail with an odious tyrant.”

The forum was moderated by Dean Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Panelists also included Dan Glickman, IOP director, and John Ruggie, director of the Center for Business and Government.