The victory of the Democrats in the US mid-term elections immediately heralded a change in the tone of the direction of the war in Iraq. With Donald Rumsfeld so swiftly disposed of, the need for change has suddenly dawned on this current US regime. The number of people around the world rejoicing with last Tuesday’s results illustrates the importance of the role US foreign policy can have in global peace.

The last five years have undoubtedly been one of the most challenging periods in world affairs. Whichever way you look at it, the world has changed after 9/11 and for the worse. The cost of terrorism and the subsequent wars have caused considerable damage that could take years to heal. More importantly, the unity of the global society has been fractured beyond recognition. It has seemingly given birth to a concept that you are either on one side or another. As in you are either on the good or the evil side.

However, this state of affairs is inadequate as the world is not black and white. In fact, the world of opinions is seldom a matter of extremes. There are a good number of people and intellectuals working for a better middle ground i.e. merging and negotiating concepts to resolve a said conflict.

Terrorism and extremism are wrong and inexcusable. A lot needs to be done to curb this but a gung-ho reaction will not resolve anything. History shows – and is still showing – it can only aggravate the situation. To genuinely work for peace, concessions need to be made on both sides i.e. the Middle East states and the West on Iraq and on Palestine. In any conflict, the stronger party can often dictate when violence ends and peace begins. The stronger parties here are the US and Israel. This is not another blind foray into anti-Americanism and its government. In fact the world - and especially some Arab states - have a lot to learn from America’s democratic processes and Tuesday’s democratic event.

The mid-term election is a model concept that even some British politicians have advocated importing. It is a pure model of democracy where Americans can vote on any issue that matters to them. Locally, any member of the community can raise a particular issue and garner enough signatures for it to become a matter for the electorate to vote on.

What the concept does is it gets rid of the middle man – i.e. the politician – between power and its civilians. In effect, it is democracy in its simplest and clearest form. The rest of the world – and possibly a cosy little island in the Indian Ocean – could have a lot to learn from that.

The victory of the Democrats was followed by their immediate vow to work with the Republicans. President George W. Bush, who called for unity and the need to work together, promptly accepted the result. This is a good example of the success of US democracy. In fact, democracy is one of the concepts that could help improve and reengineer the Muslim world, though some would immediately point out that the idea of an ‘exported democracy’ is ironic and self-defeating. True, democracy has to come from within. But there are no barriers and limits to learning, as major economic developments made in India and China would testify.

Therefore just as some – including the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi – would say that considerable change is needed in the US foreign policy, others would press for significant reengineering in the Middle Eastern states. Hence, the world is not just two extremes. Once the middle ground and rationality are restored, the long walk for peace can begin.

<B>Reaz GHANTY</B> [email protected]</I>