I found
this recent paper on the Cato website. I found it shocking not because of the overt points that it makes (that Muslims and Arabs don't have the cultural background to support democracy), but instead because the keystone assumption is that culture and psychology trump institutions.
In arguments with free-market fundamentalists, the point often comes down to a conflict between abstract "Newtonian" economics versus the reality of imperfect human actors. So I found it surprising - and heartening - to see recognition that cultural and psychological dynamics in a society determine whether or not programs succeed or fail.
Can Iraq Be Democratic?
by Patrick Basham
Patrick Basham is a senior fellow with the Center for Representative Government of the Cato Institute.
Is Iraq capable of moving smoothly from dictatorship to democracy? This paper contends that the White House will be gravely disappointed with the result of its effort to establish a stable liberal democracy in Iraq, or any other nation home to a large population of Muslims or Arabs, at least in the short to medium term
Why are Islamic (and especially Arab) countries' democratic prospects so poor? After all, in most Muslim countries a high level of popular support exists for the concept of democracy. In practice, popular support for democracy is a necessary, but is not a sufficient, condition for democratic institutions to emerge. Other factors are necessary. Hypothetical support for representative government, absent tangible support for liberal political norms and values and without the foundation of a pluralistic civil society, provides neither sufficient stimulus nor staying power for democracy to take root. That reality was borne out over the past generation in numerous countries where authoritarian regimes were displaced by newly democratic regimes but democratization failed because of shallow foundations.
The building blocks of a modern democratic political culture are not institutional in nature. The building blocks are not elections, parties, and legislatures. Rather, the building blocks of democracy are supportive cultural values--the long-term survival of democratic institutions requires a particular political culture...
I think this blanket statement is problematic, but it is encouraging that conservatives are finding reasons to say that we should not be trying to remake the world in our image.
Also, if the market fundamentalists are using culture and psychology as a core critique, then why not apply that to the Social Security debate? Instead of assuming that everyone will do what's best for them, look at reality.