Challenges of democracy

As I have read articles about the public relations in the Arab world, one thing has repeated in the texts: lack of democracy. It seems that democracy is a necessity to successful public relations.

Kirat (2005) says that "Public relations needs an atmosphere of freedom and democracy, a milieu where individuals are respected, freedom of expression is guaranteed and differences are respected, but unfortunately, a large number of Arab countries do not enjoy democracy, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and a strong public opinion." But what do the most of the Arabs and Muslims think about democracy?

Althought the Arab world has a reputation of authoritarianism there is a lot of support for democracy. Tessler and Gao (2005) say that "the data from the most recent round of the World Values Survey (WVS), carried out between 1999 and 2002, reveal broad support for democracy among Arab men and women. So what seems to be the problem? Why the democracy is so hard to achieve after all? Could there be some better solutions how Western countries could help with this process?

Alon Ben-Meir (2006) says that "the Arab states have much in common - religion, language and history. " Due to this there are four core measures that can be pursued in the region to effect democratic reforms: pursue gradual changes, provide economic incentives, develop democratic institutions and reform educational system (Ben-Meir, 2006).

I agree with Ben-Meir that it is important to understand the cultural diffrences and respect them. If Western world wants to help the Arab world to achieve democracy, it must be made carefully and not by forcing the states to the same democracy models that we have here. I also think that the public relations can help the democracy process. Maybe there does not need to be democracy before there can be good public relations, maybe the good public relations could actually help to achieve the democracy? Can you image the power that PR professional can have?

(Please notice that even thought I have used quite old references about the situation of democracy in the Arab world, there have not actually been a lot of improvement. Please see the links below. There are two really interesting articles to this topic.)

Why democracy in the Arab World is a two edged sword?

Syrian Novelist Talks About Impediments to Greater Democracy in the Arab World

References

Ben-Meir, Alon (2006). Challenges to democracy in the Arab and Muslim World. The Political Quarterly. Vol. 77, No. 3, 328-333.

Tessler, Mark & Gao, Eleanor (2005). Gauging Arab Support for Democracy. Journal of Democracy. Vol. 16, No. 3, 83-97.

Kirat, Mohamed (2005). Public relations practice in the Arab World: A critical assessment. Public Relations Review. Vol.31, Issue 3, 323-332.

Written by: Satu-Maria