The Limits of Perception

Should U.S. foreign policy promote democracy in the Arab world?

Shadi Hamid wasn't thrilled with President Obama's Nobel acceptance speech:

Too many Arabs and Muslims hold the inverse of America’s opinion of itself: It is not a force for good, or even a burdened, yet flawed, protector of the international system, but rather an actor that has worked, in remarkably consistent fashion, to suppress and subjugate the people of the region.

Are Arabs and Muslims – or to a lesser extent Latin Americans and Europeans – justified in thinking this? It doesn’t matter. This is what they think. For them, that is the reality. So when Obama says something like “no matter how callously defined, neither America’s interests – nor the world’s – are served by the denial of human aspirations,” I like it and I want to hear more of it. It actually reminds me of Bush’s early 2005 speeches, and I mean that as a compliment, because they were great speeches (at least in written form) that promised a move away from our longstanding policy of unquestioning support for Arab dictators.

But Bush’s rhetoric introduced a cognitive dissonance that became so blatant that the whole edifice crumbled. I'm all for soaring rhetoric on human rights and democracy, and fashioning a more just international system, but only if we’re willing to back it up with real policy changes on the ground. And clearly we're not. [Emphasis mine]

I agree with the final sentiment, but not the bolded one. I think objective reality, and not just perception, matters. For instance, a percentage of influential Arab opinion believes that Israel/Jews were behind the 9/11 terror attacks - does it matter that this perception is objectively, demonstrably wrong? I would say that it does matter a great deal. We can't fashion a foreign policy in response to paranoia. I also wonder about the extent to which "public opinion" in countries with government-run media can really be trusted.

But that is a separate question from whether the Arab world has a legitimate case against U.S. foreign policy in the region. I'd say, with respect to support for dictators, they do. We can debate whether it remains in the U.S. interest to support dictators but it strikes me as counter-productive to both support them and profess our undying support for freedom everywhere. Better to more closely align our words with our deeds.