Promoting Democracy: The Force of Political Settlements in Uncertain Times

Over the past couple of decades, an ever-growing body of scholarship has emerged to scrutinize the consequences of Western democracy promotion efforts, particularly in the context of the Middle East, which has been a target of regime change and democratization in the post–9/11 moment. Manal A. Jamal’s book, which seeks to understand why democracy promotion succeeds in some countries but fails in others is a welcome addition to this body of literature. The book is based on original fieldwork conducted in El Salvador and the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), comprising a rich data set of interviews with political leaders and civil society activists as well as foreign donors, in addition to analyses of reports on donor assistance to the respective countries or territories. In an innovative departure from most other assessments of foreign democracy promotion efforts, Jamal focuses on the context in which democracy assistance is given as the factor determining democratic outcomes. In particular, she dismisses the argument that the failure of democratic development in Palestine was due to the demobilization of what were previously vibrant, mass-based, grassroots organizations because of NGO-ization and professionalization caused by the inpouring of foreign aid in the wake of the Oslo Accords. Her research finds that El Salvador experienced a similar trend of professionalization of civil society organizations but without the effect of demobilizing wider grassroots constituencies. This leads her to argue that the type of political settlement governing post-conflict transitions is the key factor determining the success or failure of democracy promotion efforts. In this respect, she elaborates: