by Hussein A. Hassouna

About the author: Hussein A. Hassouna is the ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United Nations and to the United States.

In our day and age, democracy is the only acceptable form of government. Arab and African participants at the Africa-Europe summit held under the aegis of the Organization of African Unity and the European Union in April 2000, recognized under the Cairo Declaration the necessity of democratization, while condemning all anti-democratic forms of succession to power. Despite this commitment, Westerners continuously question the prospect of democratization in the Arab world and Africa. The Arab world is perceived as basically “undemocratic,” unable to adapt to the global challenges of the democratic process. Though this view is even shared by Arab intellectuals, it overlooks the root causes of the...