Greater women's rights in Arab societies are no substitute for more robust democratic institutions, writes Marina Ottaway in the Arab Reform Bulletin. Her essay, "Avoiding The Women's Rights Trap," spells it out.

Under the prevailing conditions in the Arab world, promoting women's rights does not constitute promoting democratic reform....The unchecked power of Arab presidents, kings, sheiks, and emirs, and the absence or weakness of institutions that could limit that power, are the real problem. Parliaments tend to be docile, often dominated by the ruling party or by handpicked appointees. Judiciaries are rarely independent. Islamists dominate the best-organized opposition groups. Giving women the vote or training women to run for office does nothing to address these core issues.

...Arab countries will become more democratic only when rulers are confronted by well-organized opposition parties, strong parliaments, and independent judiciaries, not when women can vote like men for powerless parliaments, extricate themselves more easily from abusive marriages or when more girls attend school.

One step would be term limits for Arab presidents, suggests Rami G. Khouri, executive editor of the Daily Star.

Middle-East scholars and journalists often seem more interested in Arab reform than Arabs. How it all bubbles up remains a mystery to me. Ten years from now, it may well be clear Iraq's successful makeover - with Iraqis in charge - was more than worth it, and had begun to inspire more energetic, bottom-up democratic reforms in other Arab nations.

Taking the long view, such an attempt has everything to do with stemming global terrorism. As long as so many Arabs are denied political rights, literacy and economic opportunity, they will hate their lives, themselves, and the modernized world.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at August 6, 2004 11:05 AM

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