March 22, 2007

Mauritania: Islamic "Model" for Democracy

Publius Pundit reports on an Islamic country which seems to fast be heading towards democracy and which, he claims, could serve as a model for other Muslim majority countries. Seems like very good news.

Of course, there's this one little caveat:

This isn't to say that Mauritania is a shining bright spot on the world. It's one of the only places in the world where slavery is still practiced to a large degree; racial [sic--"racism"???] has historically been extreme. Economic and cultural liberalization have been slow to take hold and in most cases outright suppressed since independence.
Hopefully he's right that the new democratic movement will lead to liberalism. Personally, I'm more of a fan of liberty than I am of democracy, but rarely do we find one without the other. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I can only hold my breath for so long.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 09:36 AM | |