The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea

Written by Shadi Hamid

Narrated by Amin El Gamin

What happens when democracy produces "bad" outcomes? Is democracy good because of its outcomes or despite them? This "democratic dilemma" is one of the most persistent, vexing problems for America abroad, particularly in the Middle East-we want democracy in theory but not necessarily in practice.

When Islamist parties rise to power through free elections, the United States has too often been ambivalent or opposed, preferring instead pliable dictators. With this legacy of democratic disrespect in mind, and drawing on new interviews with top American officials, Shadi Hamid explores universal questions of morality, power, and hypocrisy. Why has the United States failed so completely to live up to its own stated ideals in the Arab world? And is it possible for it to change?

In The Problem of Democracy, Hamid offers an ambitious reimagining of this ongoing debate and argues for "democratic minimalism" as a path to resolving democratic dilemmas in the Middle East and beyond. In the seemingly eternal tension between democracy and liberalism, recognized by the ancient Greeks and the American founders alike, it may be time to prioritize one over the other, rather than acting as if the two are intertwined when increasingly they are not.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Feb 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781696609357

Shadi Hamid

Shadi Hamid is director of research at the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He is a correspondent for The Atlantic, vice-chair of the Project on Middle East Democracy,and a member of the World Bank's MENA Advisory Panel. Prior to joining Brookings, he was director of research at POMED and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He lives in Washington, D.C.