Of Wise Old Men and Rebellious Youth

Abstract

The Arab world is often depicted as incapable of developing democracy, treating its citizens in a decent way or allowing freedom of speech and religion. Quite a few authors, scholars and journalists blame the Arab culture. In this paper we analyze Arab culture using the Hofstede dimensions and apply the same dimensions to unravel the Western presuppositions about democracy. We see that what Arab citizens expect from decent governments and leaders, differs largely from what Western citizens expect of good leaders and governance. Just as management techniques or advertising cannot be exported across cultures, the concept of good leadership and democracy cannot be copy-pasted across cultures.