Historical Memory and The Building of Democracy in Iraq

[Cynthia]

Democracy in Iraq climbs an uphill battle based on Archaeology.



Davis begins his analysis of historical memory?s potential role in contemporary Iraq from the theoretical position that, until recently, historical memory as a force in political transitions has been overlooked and under-theorized. For Davis, this lacuna is important to remedy because bringing memory ?back in? takes better account than political science approaches have traditionally done of the role of culture and ideology, as well as violence and force, in political change. It also potentially moves the analysis of political change beyond political elites to encompass other sectors of society.
Both current Western discourses on Iraq and Ba?athist ideology have overlooked what Davis sees as a rich heritage of democratizing social and political tendencies as well as examples of cross-ethnic cooperation and the development of civil society institutions in pre-1963 (pre-Ba?athist) Iraq. Western neglect of this important background to the current crisis in Iraq may be due essentially to ignorance about Iraqi history and the tendency of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority [CPA] to focus solely on the present and future, thus omitting a crucial dimension that political scientists and international relations specialists have tended to neglect as well. In the case of the Ba?athist regime, however, silence about this past, or active attempts to rewrite it, were very deliberate proof that the regime understood the power of historical memory and the legitimacy it could bestow if manipulated and distorted.

http://www.cceia.org/resources/articles_papers_reports/4955.html

[Cynthia]

One point about this article that I wanted to make and couldn't as I was in a rush to head out today to attend my nephew's 6th birthday bash.
Bush and his buddies should have taken the time to read up on...or study, if you will,  the on point possibilities of creating a Democracy in the nation of Iraq...far in advance of this debachery called the War on Terrorism on the road through Baghdad. 

It is obvious to many for many a year, but there must be a significant paradigm shift in the way we elect our leaders. Where is the real intelligence in the nation's leadership today? Bush, and his cohorts should have at best researched and planned out with more than a military schematic road map before mowing down the dusty trails with Hummers and invalid reasoning.

Why do we jump before thinking in the world? Is it just we Americans? The world seems to think so.
I still hold out hope that we are a nation that demands strenght of splendor in the grass convictions, but our track record is coming close to receiving a failing grade. Mr. President, as much as your fighting back intentions were all well and fine......you were presented with the canvas blank and fresh on Sept 12th, 2001, and you  just may have turned a chance to paint a masterpiece into a paint by number disaster. God, I hope not.