The MAJOR reason that Japan and Germany were rebuilt is because the US PERMITTED them to regain their former industrial strength AND BY ACCEPTING MANY OF THEIR GOODS in US markets (despite our own post-war recession).
The US had the choice between encouraging industrial renewal in Germany and Japan and writing them off to the socialist bloc. It was hardly an altruistic decision. The acceptance of goods in markets didn’t go one way: the US went into reconstruction with the only intact industrial plant in the world. Domestic demand could not absorb the production capacity. The demand was in the reconstructing nations, but they had no money to pay. The Marshall Plan provided the money, much of which flowed right back to American companies. Reconstruction worked because it served everyone’s interest.
The point I was making – that no amount of assistance will rebuild a nation if the nation lacks the social and cultural infrastructure to rebuild itself, remains unchanged. There are things that money alone can’t do.
It seems to me that you, on one hand, seem to "indict" the US for supporting dictators in these less developed countries, while at the same time seeming to indicate that democracy may not be the ideal form of government to replace Saddam, and would only work long term.
I wasn’t trying to indict anyone, just commenting on what appeared to be a perception that the US has left democracy in its wake wherever it has gone, and therefore it can be assumed that the US will necessarily build democracy in Iraq.
My belief is that unless democratic systemic structures are put into place which enable people to express their choices, and which make government answerable to its citizens, it will not ever evolve.
My belief is that lasting democratic systemic structures can only be put into place by the people that are to be governed by them, and that this process is long, complex, and perilous.
I admit that my view is somewhat tainted by my experience in the post-Marcos Philippines. I don't think many people here have the slightest idea of how difficult it is to construct a functional government in the wake of an extended dictatorial presence. |
