An excerpt from,
"The Arab Fall" by Jared Feldschreiber, World Policy Blog, October 1, 2012:
"Real democracy in the region is still a long ways off, said Foreign Affairs' Jonathan
Tepperman, and there is little the United States can do to compel good
democratic governance. “It would be a mistake to think this is all about
the United States,” Tepperman said.
Western policymakers long supported autocrats to maintain the status
quo as the U.S. placed greater support for regional stability over
democracy. tIn the past, autocrats—and policy makers in the West—feared
anarchy and the specter of Islamic errorism. Before the Arab Spring,
the region’s autocrats banned Islamist parties and jailed suspected
Islamists. Today, as Islamists have won big in recent elections, the
question is: What are the next steps for the West as their influence in
the Middle East wanes?"
