Abstract
The Greater Middle East Project: A Short Moment of International Utopia ? The Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative announced by the Bush administration in early 2004 identified new international threats from within the heart of Muslim societies and advocated the establishment of a climate of political freedom and transparency to reduce the risks of terrorism. This initiative, however, suffered from a fundamental contradiction as genuine political democratization would enable sovereignist elements to call into question the underpinnings of American hegemony in the region. Moreover, in neglecting to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem, the instrumentalization of a democratic agenda by an external power weakens Arab democratic opposition movements within their own society. In the hope of building international consensus on Iraq, the version of the initiative adopted at the 2004 G-8 summit may be seen as an attenuated version of the original project in which the concern for “good governance” has prevailed over the desire for democratization.
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