Unlike communism, which some have condemned as the opium of the masses, democracy provides an arsenal to the masses. Remember the famous radio broadcast delivered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, giving the slogan “the great arsenal of democracy.” As is the case with an armory, the democratic arsenal also contains a lot of potentially dangerous weapons. The weapons of freedom of speech, the right to vote, and freedom to protest and demonstrate can wreak havoc if they fall into inexperienced and irresponsible hands. Unfortunately this is exactly what is happening in Arab Spring countries which have had their first taste of real democracy. Immaturity and inexperience in handling democratic responsibilities are visible. Voting patterns show more of a knee-jerk reaction to the fallen regimes' policies than any political acumen. Unbridled freedom has led to civil strife, corruption and crime. Post-uprising expectations were high, yet reality has taken a different course. In Egypt, for example, people thought that the economy of their country would improve in the post-Mubarak era yet the figures tell a dismal tale. Inflation is running at almost 12 percent. Food prices have gone up by 16-24 percent. In Tunisia, unemployment was the factor that led to the uprising. Yet more than one year after the ouster of Ben Ali, the unemployment situation has gone from bad to worse. Only a few days ago, jobless graduates clashed with the police in Tunis. The election results were also not along the lines that the West had expected. In Tunisia, Islamists Ennahda won 40 percent of the vote, and 89 of the 217 assembly seats. According to a survey, 47 percent of the respondents voted for Islamists, 19 percent for Arab nationalists and 19 percent for liberals. Only 6 percent supported communists or socialists. Ennahda's grand victory in Tunisia was the voters' knee-jerk reaction to Ben Ali's secularist policies. Political scientist Riadh Sidaoui said after the moderate Islamist party's victory: “The leadership was forced into exile in London for a long time [because of harassment by Tunisian police] ... No one wants a repeat of the 1991 Algerian scenario.” The pattern seems to have been repeated in Egypt where Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi is a leading contender for the post of the first freely-elected president. So, democracy cannot be the panacea for all the ills of governance. No doubt, democracy is one of the viable forms of government but it needs mature hands to implement its principles for the best results. __
