In her discussion on Tuesday hosted by The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Jennifer Widner explained that because Iraq is such a volatile environment, consistency is essential, and that solely introducing democracy to the society will not suffice, the level of democracy doesn`t seem to make much of a difference; what does "make a bit of a difference ... is the proportion of people who have a high school education".

Yes, it's that "e-word again, and it keeps coming to the surface of the issue of reforms in the Islamic world, and with it - the subsequent economic and societal changes that go with it, begining with the secular (key point here - as opposed to control by clerics) ownership of the key elements of life within the society. This is a message we can glean from another speaker at the same discussion attended by Widner:

Carlos Pascual, former director of the State Department`s Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization and current vice president of Brookings` Foreign Policy Studies, said overcoming instability in Iraq is important for preventing the spread of international terrorism and organized crime.

'Those kinds of threats are direct threats that we can feel in the United States,' Pascual said. 'We have to think about things differently.'

The United States` efforts must serve as a starting point by which to control the root of internal conflict, establish order and facilitate the transition to local ownership, Pascual said.

This step is critical, he explained, because it ensures that a country such as Iraq does not revert to its former state. In fact, research has demonstrated that 43 percent of reconstructed states lapse back into conflict within five years, he said.

... ... to actually impose peace,' he said. 'Eventually, in Iraq, we have to get a local government, which is credible.' (read secular, not clerical)

Of course in the case of Iraq, establishing peace is the first order of business before we can even address the matter of local (secular) control, education, and economic transformation from a theopolitico-economic culture to a more modern version:

Pascual said the current, transitional phase of the reconstruction of Iraq is undergoing several problems that need to be addressed promptly.

Transitional security, which is fundamental to establishing peace, suffers from major security gaps, he said.

'As a result of that, they`ve lost that critical monopoly on the use of force,' he said. 'Once you lose that monopoly ... it is extremely difficult to gain it back ... and hence we have to be sensitive to those gaps in transitional security.'

Transitioning to local governance (again, read secular as opposed to clerical) has been another challenging area in reconstruction efforts because it has been difficult to impose peace on Iraq, Pascual said.

'The U.S. military and international forces can create an environment to transition to local governance, but without a firm local government to actually have a credible posture within that society, it will be difficult ...

After the transitional phase, ensuring that the controlling regime is transparent and decentralized is essential to completing reconstruction, Pascual said. If these two steps cannot be guaranteed, he warned, Iraq again runs the risk of lapsing back into conflict. As a result, the United States will not be able to devise an effective exit strategy because the transfer of military leadership to civilian leadership will have failed, he explained.

Finally, Pascual emphasized the importance of maintaining a U.S. capacity to engage in stabilization and reconstruction throughout the entirety of the process.

He suggested integrating civilian and military parts of the Iraqi government to develop the United States` strategy and to bring in critical skills, such as police training.

'This is a radical transformation and it is not going to happen in a short period of time. You can`t impose it because you`re fundamentally changing people`s lives,' Pascual said. 'It`s going to require a period of sticking with that process of transition and supporting that transition, as you get indigenous groups beginning to believe in that process of transformation.'

So what are we hearing here besides the need to establish peace and end the violence in Iraq? Education and secular control, and along with these changes the resulting necessary societal reforms required to address the basic economic needs of the populace, removed from other theopolitical "controls", while allowing the religious freedom to practice their faith. Over time, we can only hope that with these reforms and changes will come a time when a mosque is where people go to pray rather than to be controlled.

And it's these same issues that need to be addressed in the same manner in other Islamic countries as democracy slowly makes it's way to the rest of the planed. Recalling Wilder's point, introducing democracy a society will not suffice, the level of democracy doesn`t seem to make much of a difference. The difference comes in the way we go about it, introducing the modern world to democracy through education and economic reforms, with consistancy, and within the context of the local culture. Their lives are theirs, not ours, and introducing misunderstood and unwanted freedoms is a dead end that serves more to promote Islamofascism rather than to hinder it. Waiting for reform to occur within Islam may be an exercise in futility, but consistant educational reforms juxtaposed with increasing economic reforms and opportunities, will in time, along with democracy, make a difference.

Related:
Families 'can block reform'
Solidarity within OIC and the changing world (Good article addressing globalization and the need for reform in the Islamic world)
Don't Be Friends With Christians or Jews, Saudi Texts Say