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The panacea to all political problems is democracy, according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But then she is merely reiterating the same song as her masters, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Speaking in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Rice assured the delegates of over 2,500 attending the World Economic Forum that democracy was essential for political and economic development in the Middle East.
However it can be said that her interpretation of political and economic solutions is very much open to question, as indeed is the type of democracy Rice would want to see introduced into the region.
American politicians seem to believe that democracy, or at least the version practised in the United States, is the right and proper way for nations to proceed. Yet history does not confirm that it is the only way of governance, for there are many different types of management and administration of a nation, as indeed there are of interpretations of the implementation of democracy.
There are many ways in which a nation can be governed, and to paint all with the broad brush of democracy may ignore the history and culture, thereby imposing an alien administration upon society.
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