Book Review: Striving for Democracy in Mideast

By Ziad Asali, M.D.

The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East by Joshua Muravchik, Encounter Books, 2009, 371 pp., hardcover, $25.95.

The Middle East must be a home to both peace and democracy, but neither should be held hostage to the other.

The problem facing Middle Eastern liberals and reformers is how to navigate the difficult waters between authoritarian states ... and even more illiberal and reactionary oppositions....

... those liberals who support or defend radical Islamist organizations because of shared grievances against Israel and the West are deluding themselves ... that they can do so and sustain liberalism and reform.