Quote:
Originally posted by Memnoch:
Think about it this way:
- how long did the Macedonians have to occupy Asia and Northern Africa to "Hellenicize" it?
- how long did the Romans have to occupy Europe to "Romanize" it?
- how long did the Poms have to occupy Asia, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, parts of Africa, Australia and North America to "Pomize" it? (note that I don't think they ever managed to "Pomize" Scotland, Ireland and Wales)
- how long did the Spanish have to occupy Sth America to "Iberianize" it?
Then again, it didn't take the Ayatollah Khomeini too long to "Iranianize" Iran, did it. But I suppose he had an unfair advantage in that the region was already Islamic before he took over.
It takes time and lots of money to effect a genuine cultural change. Even more so when there's a power vacuum. Unfortunately, occupation of other people's countries, even if for a noble cause, is generally frowned upon in today's world. Which is why while the best thing for Iraq is probably for the US to stay there, build schools, develop infrastructure, improve people's quality of life, etc. it's strategically inadvisable (not to mention downright dangerous).
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Except that American cultural imperialism is at work through television, movies, advertising and products. It doesn't need to be present in the same way Greeks did, for the values to be transmitted. The presmise with somewhere like Iraq is that the people wanted democracy and capitalism and the freedoms they see Americans having, and that Saddam was repressing their desires for it all.
However the question should be asked, does a nation have a mandate to impose cultural values on other nations if their own nation is in disarray? Bush's initial election was surrounded by controversy, legal concerns, a minority vote, and low voter participation. Americans own faith in their system is at an all time low.
Why would other nations want an American-style democracy if this is the result?
Another argument would be that America is simply an extention of European imperialism, culture and values (it's certainly not Native American is it?), and that given the scope, variety and varying successes of parliamentary/westminster representative democracies driven by values protestantism freed and encouraged, (building on a jewish template), you could argue the spread of western culture is inevitable.