Difficulties Achieving Democracy in Arab World

In They'll Do It Their Way, the editor of the Economist provides an essay on the difficulties in achieving democracy in the Arab world whose purpose is to inform and persuade. The essay is informative in that it provides a depiction of both Arab and U.S. views toward achieving democracy in the Arab world. The essay is an attempt to persuade readers that only Arabs and not outside influences like the U.S. can successfully promote democracy in the Arab world.

The essay is structured in six paragraphs, with the first paragraph consisting of one solitary line, "Infidels cannot make the Arab world democratic, but perhaps Arabs can" (They'll, 2004, p. 44). The first paragraph explains both the U.S. and Arab perception of how to achieve democracy in the Arab world. The next three paragraphs provide information regarding U.S. efforts to do so, while the final paragraph explains Arab views of how best to achieve democracy in the Arab world.

The essay is very effective because it shows that American diplomacy is often based on force and economic threats, factors that only fuel resentment in the Arab world toward democracy. The essay is effective in showing how despite such coercion, the U.S. has backed down from trying to use force against Arab states to impose democracy. One good example is the failure of the U.S. to provide significant economic support to Arab governments that support democracy and encourage "popular empowerment" (They'll, 2004, p. 44). As the author pr

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y'll, 2004, p. 44). Another strategy the author uses is objectivity. By showing both the American and Arab perspectives, it is easier for us to believe the author when he tries to persuade us that the Arabs may have a more successful approach to promoting democracy in the Arab world than do Americans. There are six paragraphs in this essay. The following represents the six topic sentences in each, followed by their order in the paragraph in parentheses. 1) "Infidels cannot make the Arab world democratic, but perhaps Arabs can" (First Sentence); 2) "Ordinary Arabs are torn between their hostility to outside pressure, their desire for reform and their fear of what reform might entail" (Last Sentence); 3) "The argument grew heated a year ago, when President George Bush announced a �forward strategy for freedom' for the region" (First Sentence); 4) "In any event, America's bite has proved milder than its bark" (First Sentence); 5) "Yet the few details available suggest this agenda will be skewed towards small-scale economic projects rather than political reform" (Last Sentence); and, 6) "This shift of emphasis amounts to a recognition of reality" (First Sentence) (They'll, 2004, p. 44). In paragraph two and five, the author pos

Category: Foreign - D