Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Editorial

One of the great embarrassments of the Arab world became just a bit more embarrassing this weekend, as yet another of the region’s presidents moved closer to officially transforming into an unchallenged monarch.

Yemen’s Parliament ratified in principle Saturday a constitutional amendment that would abolish the two-term limit for the head of state and allow Ali Abdallah Saleh to rule for life. Then again, Saleh has ruled North Yemen, unified Yemen and reunified Yemen since 1978, so death appears the only power capable of ending his reign, amendment or no amendment.

Still, Saleh’s latest maneuver only cements for him one place among a pantheon of Arab rulers, many of whom came to power through coups decades ago, who have ensconced themselves as presidents for life – most adhering to the corollary script of trying to pass on power to a son. (Of course, in criticizing these presidents who would be kings, we must also except those Arab nations still ruled in 2011 by those actually holding the title of king or emir).

Tunisia has Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife Leila; in Egypt Hosni Mubarak seems ready to run for president again this year, as he has yet to succeed in handing the reins to his son Gamal; Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, marking a sixth decade in which he holds power, also seems incapable of installing one of his sons as successor; Syria’s Bashar Assad, as Lebanon well knows, inherited an iron grip on Syria – and the presidency – from his father Hafez.

When many of the cadre of revolutionary leaders seized control decades ago, they instituted constitutions which enshrined the rule of law, democracy and human rights in countries which had long suffered from despotic misrule. However, their naked lust for lifelong power stands for the exact opposite of the principles in their nations’ founding documents.

Should this trend continue, with more presidents for life passing power to their progenies, it will only cause the condition of the Arab world to worsen and these individual countries to edge closer to the category of failed states.
In other regions despots have fallen and nations have embraced democracy and human rights, and signs of progress have accompanied the transitions. Arab rulers, meanwhile, are driving their states into paralysis, evidently pursuing a new designation more pejorative than “third world.”

Beyond the clear political catastrophe of this ambition, the phenomenon stands as one of the direct and central causes for many of the ills spelled out in the UN Arab Human Development Reports. This is how societies of frustration are born; when individuals see that their potential will never be realized because of a closed and inert society, various fanaticisms will thrive and the most talented will flee to more promising lands.