CURRENTS
Lessons in Democracy
By Townsend Hoopes, Senior Fellow
In July the C. V. Starr
Center for the American
Experience hosted an ambitious
summer school on
American values that brought
21 young Muslim students to
Washington College (see
story on p.18). This was the
first of three such programs
sponsored by the State Department
this year, in a belated
effort after 9/11 to reinstate
cultural exchanges
meant to improve the world's
understanding of America.
On the interpersonal, or micro,
level, this experiment
was a clear triumph for Washington
College and a boon for
a group of bright young Muslims
who are likely to be
among the future leaders of
their own countries. On the
international, or macro, level,
the impact will not be known
for some time. We should be
hopeful, but experience warns
us to be cautious.
Whatever its contradictions
and failings, America
represents the triumph of
modernity, meaning not only
technological achievement,
but also freedom of speech,
political dissent, democratic
elections and women's rights.
Most of Islam is still gathered
in traditional societies where
control is exercised by religious
authorities who resist
or are ambivalent about modernity.
Developing these vital
elements of human
progress has brought prosperity
and world dominance to
America and the West; it
also has created a dynamic of
accelerating change which is
leaving much of Islam behind,
mired in stagnation,
excess population and mass
poverty. This vast gap in living
standards inevitably creates
resentment, which is exploitable
by fanatics and
demagogues. Ironically, however,
bin Laden and other
core terrorists are not interested
in economic uplift for
their followers. Rather they
are seeking to foment hatred
of America among the
masses on the grounds that
our political, military and
cultural intrusiveness is an
invasion that corrupts the
deepest values of Islam.
A vital point here is that
the realities of modernity
(technical, social, political)
are inexorable. They cannot
be wished away, which
means that traditional societies
are faced with a crucial
choice: to adjust, to adapt or
to risk steady decline and
perhaps ultimate disappearance.
Given this daunting
paradigm, the genuine enthusiasm
for America shown
by our 21 Muslim guests was
a heartening sign. They
seemed impressed with the
depth of our national commitment
to human freedom
and individual opportunity,
and the stability of our institutions,
both governmental
and private. Several declared
that exposure to America
had reinforced their determination
to work for social
change in their own countries.
Two Pakistani women,
both law students, said they
planned to devote their lives
to fighting for broader
women's rights at home. One
young man said it was his
ambition to become his
country's prime minister.
As a group they were progressive
moderates, categorically
opposed to terrorism.
At the same time, they were
openly critical of current
U.S. foreign policy, especially
in the Middle East, believing
it plays into the hands of Islamic
extremists. The Bush
doctrine seems to them overmilitarized,
insensitive to
historic realities and to genuine
grievances in the region.
On reflection, one might
conclude that the least tangible
aspects of the program
were the most fruitful:
namely, the personal lessons
learned about intercultural
differences, and similarities.
A few of the differences created
tension until they were
eased by the remarkably
open, honest discussion that
characterizes student dialogue
today. The easy equality
between men and women
in American life confronted
the patriarchal tradition in
countries where men direct
women but also protect
them. For example, the prospect
of an evening at Andy's
made a strong young Indian
man uneasy. Why? Because
the local patrons would be
consuming alcohol and this
might result in behavior unacceptable
to the Muslim
women for whose dignity and
safety he felt responsible. His
upbringing had taught him
to doubt the possibility of a
genuinely equal friendship
between a man and a
woman. Later, he and several
others came to acknowledge
that gender relations in this
country are more mature
than they had supposed. For
their part, the Americans
came to a quiet respect for
these "old-fashioned" values,
especially for the depth of
conviction in which they are
held.
The female students displayed
varying degrees of
ambivalence on this subject.
Several seemed to want only
an intellectual experience.
Most however were eager to
embrace all aspects of their
first American experience;
some admitted their mothers
had told them to enjoy it to
the full, for after this brief
fling their lives must return
to traditional restrictions.
The gravest crisis in the
world today turns on the
question of how to prevent a
destructive confrontation between
the West and the
whole of Islam. If there is an
answer, it lies in persuading
the great majority of Muslims
(totaling some 2 billion
people) to choose modernity
and moderation, and to reject
the blind alley offered by
its nihilist minority. In this
context, a $200,000 State
Department program aimed
at explaining the basic tenets
and promises of American
democracy to future leaders
of South Asia looks more
cost effective than a $400
billion defense budget.
Townsend Hoopes, Senior Fellow
at Washington College,
servedasanassistanttothree
Defense Secretaries and was
Under Secretary of the Air
Force. He has written several
prize-winning books on American
foreign policy.
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