Update on Damnocracy

I've said early and often that when it comes to the spread of democracy in the Mideast, Americans in general and Bush administration in particular must be careful of what they wish for. Give recent history, it looks like it’s just not going to be possible to have your cake and eat it, too.

That conundrum, of course, is on full display with the ascendancy of Hamas, which now controls the Palestinian Authority by virtue of its parliamentary election upset.

Shibley Telhami, a University of Maryland prof, lays it on the line in a Washington Post op-ed piece:

Given this, skepticism about the real aims of these groups should be balanced by openness to the possibility that their aims once they are in power could differ from their aims as opposition groups. This requires partial engagement, patience, and a willingness to allow such new governments space and time to put their goals to the test of reality. Hamas, in fact, could provide a place for testing whether careful engagement leads to moderation.

If we are not willing to engage, there is only one alternative: to rethink the policy of accelerated electoral democracy and focus on a more incremental approach of institutional and economic reform of existing governments. There is no realistic third party that's likely to emerge anytime soon.