It is time for the West to get on the right side of history in Egypt

The fall of the Mubarak regime marks the end of an inglorious chapter in the history of the West. The decision to back a dictator in Egypt in exchange for stability has proved to be as flawed strategically as it was morally. The challenge for the West now is to get itself on the right side of history in this part of the world. Something that not been helped by the Obama administration’s short-sighted slashing of the US’s democracy promotion budget for Egypt. 

There are understandable concerns about whether or not the Egyptian military will ever hand over power. The New York Times reports that neither the field marshal nor the lieutenant general who are now effectively running the country are instinctive reformers or democrats. But because of the extremely close links between the Egyptian military and the US, including huge amounts of American military aid to Egypt, we can expect them to be prepared to listen to Washington’s advice. This provides the Obama administration with a massive opportunity to put pressure on the military to work towards a proper, democratic transition.

One thing that the West can do now is to help economically. As David Frum points out, when Mubarak came to power in 1981 the average Egyptian was two and a half times richer than his Chinese counterpart. Now the Chinese are fifty percent richer than the Egyptians. There are no quick fixes to Egypt’s lack of economic development but one thing the West could do would be to unilaterally suspend all tariffs on Egyptians goods. This would both boost the Egyptian economy and act as a declaration of intent.