Lack of ideology: The sloganeering and conspiracy theories that dominate Middle Eastern discourse are largely absent from crowds gathered outside government installations demanding an end to stagnation, arbitrariness, corruption, tyranny and torture.Military vs. mosque: Recent events confirm that the same two powers – the armed forces and the Islamists – dominate some 20 Middle Eastern countries.The military deploys raw power and the Islamists offer a vision. Exceptions exist – a vibrant Left in Turkey, ethnic factions in Lebanon and Iraq, democracy in Israel, Islamist control in Iran – but this pattern widely holds.Iraq: The most volatile country of the region, Iraq has been conspicuously without demonstrations because its population is not facing a decades-old autocracy.A military putsch? Islamists wish to repeat their success in Iran by exploiting popular unrest. Tunisia’s experience bears close examination for a pattern that may be repeated elsewhere. The military leadership there apparently concluded that its strongman, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had become too high-maintenance – especially with his wife’s family’s flamboyant corruption – to keep in power, so it ousted him and, for good measure, put out an international arrest warrant for him and his family.That done, nearly the entire remaining old guard remains in power, with the top military man, Chief of Staff Rachid Ammar, apparently having replaced Ben Ali as the country’s power broker. The old guard hopes that tweaking the system by granting more civil and political rights will allow it to hold on to power. If this gambit succeeds, the seeming revolution of mid-January will end up as a mere coup d’état.THIS SCENARIO could be repeated elsewhere, especially in Egypt, where soldiers have dominated the government since 1952 and intend to maintain their power against the Muslim Brotherhood which they have suppressed since 1954. Strongman Hosni Mubarak’s appointment of Omar Suleiman as vice president terminates the Mubarak family’s dynastic pretensions, and raises the prospect of Mubarak resigning in favor of direct military rule.More broadly, I bet on the more-continuity- than-change model that has emerged so far in Tunisia. Heavy-handed rule will lighten somewhat in Egypt and elsewhere, but the militaries will remain the ultimate power brokers.US policy: The US government has a vital role in helping Middle Eastern states move from tyranny to political participation without Islamists hijacking the process. George W. Bush had the right idea in 2003 in calling for democracy, but he ruined this effort by demanding instant results. Barack Obama initially reverted to the failed policy of making nice with tyrants; now he is myopically siding with the Islamists against Mubarak. He should emulate Bush but do a better job, understanding that democratization is a decades-long process that requires the inculcation of counterintuitive ideas about elections, freedom of speech and the rule of law.The writer (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, He lived in Egypt for three years.
Lion's Den: Revolutions or coups d'etat?
Heavy-handed rule will lighten somewhat in Egypt and elsewhere, but the militaries will remain the ultimate power brokers.
Lack of ideology: The sloganeering and conspiracy theories that dominate Middle Eastern discourse are largely absent from crowds gathered outside government installations demanding an end to stagnation, arbitrariness, corruption, tyranny and torture.Military vs. mosque: Recent events confirm that the same two powers – the armed forces and the Islamists – dominate some 20 Middle Eastern countries.The military deploys raw power and the Islamists offer a vision. Exceptions exist – a vibrant Left in Turkey, ethnic factions in Lebanon and Iraq, democracy in Israel, Islamist control in Iran – but this pattern widely holds.Iraq: The most volatile country of the region, Iraq has been conspicuously without demonstrations because its population is not facing a decades-old autocracy.A military putsch? Islamists wish to repeat their success in Iran by exploiting popular unrest. Tunisia’s experience bears close examination for a pattern that may be repeated elsewhere. The military leadership there apparently concluded that its strongman, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had become too high-maintenance – especially with his wife’s family’s flamboyant corruption – to keep in power, so it ousted him and, for good measure, put out an international arrest warrant for him and his family.That done, nearly the entire remaining old guard remains in power, with the top military man, Chief of Staff Rachid Ammar, apparently having replaced Ben Ali as the country’s power broker. The old guard hopes that tweaking the system by granting more civil and political rights will allow it to hold on to power. If this gambit succeeds, the seeming revolution of mid-January will end up as a mere coup d’état.THIS SCENARIO could be repeated elsewhere, especially in Egypt, where soldiers have dominated the government since 1952 and intend to maintain their power against the Muslim Brotherhood which they have suppressed since 1954. Strongman Hosni Mubarak’s appointment of Omar Suleiman as vice president terminates the Mubarak family’s dynastic pretensions, and raises the prospect of Mubarak resigning in favor of direct military rule.More broadly, I bet on the more-continuity- than-change model that has emerged so far in Tunisia. Heavy-handed rule will lighten somewhat in Egypt and elsewhere, but the militaries will remain the ultimate power brokers.US policy: The US government has a vital role in helping Middle Eastern states move from tyranny to political participation without Islamists hijacking the process. George W. Bush had the right idea in 2003 in calling for democracy, but he ruined this effort by demanding instant results. Barack Obama initially reverted to the failed policy of making nice with tyrants; now he is myopically siding with the Islamists against Mubarak. He should emulate Bush but do a better job, understanding that democratization is a decades-long process that requires the inculcation of counterintuitive ideas about elections, freedom of speech and the rule of law.The writer (www.DanielPipes.org) is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, He lived in Egypt for three years.