Carnegie Endowment

The December 2006 Arab Reform Bulletin from the Carnegie Endowment features an article on the approaching UAE elections to the FNC. Why and how did full elections become synonymous with reform? How did we arrive at a point where the opinions of "democracy" differ so greatly between the West and Arab world? One problem is that the three most vivid symbols of democratic reform in the Arab world - Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq - are so unstable right now. Given that the application of US-style democracy has faced such challenges in this part of the world, can't there be a more nuanced approach to its application in places like the UAE which are so stable politically and thriving economically?