The Future of Freedom

The Future of Freedom

Summary of Keynote Address by Fareed Zakaria

Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Kent State University Symposium on Democracy

Dr. Zakaria spoke at Kent State University’s fourth Symposium on Democracy at the invitation of the 2003 planning committee of this annual event. In the Kiva, a Kent State lecture theater that holds over four hundred seated, Zakaria delivered a keynote address to a standing-room audience about “The Future of Freedom.” The speech lasted for an hour, and Dr. Thomas Hensely, chair of the Political Science Department, moderated the question-answer session. Most of those in attendance were from the larger community and some were from the Kent State University faculty, staff, and students.

The last three symposia had developed a community audience that is interested and that regularly attends the keynote addresses. The following is a short summary of Zakaria’s speech.

Zakaria’s address focused mainly on the Middle East and more particularly on Iraq and the Arab world. Zakaria’s address on the role of freedom in the Middle East included opinions about the future role of the United States in Iraq, the internal political dynamics of Iraq after the war that has been named “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the multiethnic fabric of the Iraqi society, and the role of the Arab states in the region.

After starting with a comment about how war is the way Americans learn about geography, Zakaria examined the role of the United States and Britain in postwar Iraq. In considering this role, he assessed the war on Iraq by the United States and Britain without the support of the United Nations to have been an appropriate course of action.

He noted, however, that what was an appropriate action at the time requires reconsideration. In postwar Iraq, a peacekeeping force would only gain legitimacy if it were a multinational force, Zakaria emphasized. Unless the United Nations is included, the United States and Britain will not be accepted and their role will be a questionable one both on the ground in Iraq and among other nations.

Zakaria proceeded to examine Iraq’s internal political structure. After providing a short history of Iraq’s creation and its governmental developments, he centered his attention on the Saddam era and its impact on internal governance.¹ Saddam’s rule, which lasted for over twenty years, according to Zakaria, left Iraq without an internal governance structure. Saddam’s brutality with his opponents created a political vacuum without either successors or middle-level governing structure to lead after his demise. The leadership left in Iraq was that of the Shiite imams in the mosques. Such a leadership, noted Zakaria, is important to observe, especially in light of the multiethnic, religiously plural contemporary Iraq. It is easy for religious authority to take over, argued Zakaria, in an Iraq devoid of any political structure. However, such a takeover, according to Zakaria, will be problematic in view of the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, Iraqis, and Kurds. This is where the United States can play a role. For Zakaria, the United States can lend its expertise on democracy to the newly developing political structure in Iraq. The United States can teach the Iraqis who are operating in a polity void of any modern structure how to develop democratic institutions and processes.

Finally, Zakaria turns his attention to the Arab states and their role in the Iraq problem. Quickly he dismisses those nation states’ abilities to play any constructive role in the contemporary problems of the region. He argued that the existing leaders, who are themselves hampered internally by economic stagnation, fundamentalism, and a disappointed populace, are inward focused. Most of their actions on the regional scene are taken to reduce internal pressures and to maintain a precarious balance. What is needed to deal with this region, according to Zakaria, is an attempt to move it to accept liberal constitutions and not necessarily a Western democracy. The United States can play that role because it is the only global power that can do so and because there are enough Arab leaders who want to obtain U.S. aid and hence want to please it.

Zakaria’s keynote address left many questions unanswered. Some of the questions are general questions that can apply to any situation including the Iraqi one. These long-standing questions include: How is it possible to export a Western democracy or liberalism into a culturally different context and history? What is the role of a multinational force and how long would such a force remain in a conflict zone? What are the necessary governance infrastructures in a multiethnic society? What is the future role of the United States in global conflicts?

Other questions that remained unanswered were specific to Iraq, the Arab world, and the Middle East. These questions concerned such issues as: Are Islamic traditional governing models in conflict with liberalism and democracy? Is the Iraqi case different and unique in this region? What is the future of freedom in this region? Is it a choice between Western democracy and terrorism? Finally, is the question of freedom in the Middle East only a question of settling the Iraqi problem?

Some answers to such questions one can find in Dr. Zakaria’s book, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (2003). Although I personally disagree with some of Dr. Zakaria’s analyses and answers, there is no doubt that the book is a scholarly endeavor that I recommend reading.

Note

1. The following is a short chronology of Iraq’s history: Iraq, which has a long history of struggle with Ottoman and British occupation, is declared an independent kingdom in 1932 with Faisal, a descendant of the Prophet’s tribe, declared king. In 1958, Iraq overthrows the king and is declared a republic by Kassem. In 1960, Iraq makes claims to Kuwait. In 1963, Kassem is overthrown, and the B’ath party becomes the party of power under the rule of Abel Salam Arif. Arif dies, and then his brother Abel Rahmun succeeds him. In 1968, Arif is overthrown, and Bakr takes over. In 1979, Bakr is put under house arrest and Saddam takes power. An eight-year war between Iraq and Iran began in 1980. In 1981, Israel bombs a nuclear reactor outside Baghdad. In 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. In 1991 an international force bombs Iraq from Saudi bases. In 1992, what would become a devastating economic sanction on Iraq is renewed by the United Nations. In March 2003, the United States and Britain go to war in Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam goes underground after United States and Britain led war.

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