A Political Education

View of Democracy

Here's an interview by Jennie Rothenberg with Robert Kaplan about the stablisation of the city of Mosul, in Iraq. There's one vastly interesting quote of a quote (this is the interviewer):

Is it possible that some people are genuinely comfortable living under a hierarchical structure and really don't want democracy at all? One Sunni man you interviewed for this piece asked, "What good is voting if the Shiites and Kurds will vote, too?"

I find it fascinating that Rothenberg, despite her experience of political systems and current affairs and journalism in general, apparently finds it hard to conceive of someone preferring a hierarchical system to democracy. How did the West get from "everyone having a say in government sounds like a good idea" to an inability to comprehend any other form of society?

posted by Drew Shiel @ 6/13/2006 11:18:00 p.m.