Since the Iraq War, there has been a protracted silence about whether or not the West
should promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East. Predominantly, we have looked away as venal but seemingly stable regimes abuse their citizens, but events in Tunisia have reignited the
debate.
Writing in the International Herald Tribune, Roger Cohen argues that the West’s support for stability in the Middle East proved in the end a recipe for radicalisation:
“Arab regimes, many of them U.S. allies, have lost touch with young populations. Their ossified, repressive, nepotistic, corrupt systems have proved blind to the awakening stirred by satellite TV networks, Facebook posts, tweets, Web videos and bloggers.They have proved skilled only at provoking guffaws at their regular “elections” and fostering the rise of extreme Islamism among populations left with no refuge but religion.
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