AP Photo

The big story across the Arab world since last December has been the assertion of citizen rights and the overthrow of authoritarian regimes. The historically more significant big story now is not the victory of Islamists, as much of the Western political analysis would have us believe – for that is as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow – but rather the reconfiguration, rebirth and relegitimization of Arab governance systems. It does not much matter if Islamist parties, secular liberals or Donald Duck fan clubs garner the most votes. The historic yet delicate phase we now enter is important mainly for seeing free and democratic Arabs work to develop power structures and political governance mechanisms in which ruling governments enjoy popular legitimacy and are simultaneously...