Democracy Building

There is a great quote from a new book on democracy building:

"If democracy means little more than elections, it is damaging to the reform process.”

This is how you end up with Hamas winning the Palestinian elections (and a huge blow to any potential peace process).  One of the mistakes of the Bush Administration in the Middle East was to hold elections for the sake of holding elections.

Don't get me wrong, democracy is clearly the most preferable system of government.  But if you don't take the time to build the institutions that support a functioning democracy (like a free press, independent judiciary, etc.) then you create the potential to leave things worse off.

Anyone interested in the full article and context of that quote can check out Wars, Guns, and Votes.