Who Stole Democracy from the Arabs? - a podcast by School of International Service

As far as the West is concerned, World War I is largely a European story, but that's only part of the full narrative. In this episode of Big World, SIS professor Elizabeth Thompson discusses stolen democracy in the Middle East after “the war to end all wars.”

Professor Thompson, the Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace at SIS, provides a more expansive understanding of the impact of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference (2:25), including the Syrian Arab Congress that convened at Damascus in 1919 (6:24). She also explains how Britain and France intervened to destroy this newly-declared, independent Arab kingdom (9:01) and why Syrian Arabs were not, at the time, protected by international law or the new League of Nations (10:00).

Based on research she conducted for her book, How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs, Professor Thompson breaks down how the British and French attempted to erase all evidence of the Syrian Arab State's democracy (14:54). She also explains why knowledge of this part of history helps us understand more recent events in Greater Syria (18:31) and reveals how different the present-day Middle East might be if the Syrian Arab Congress had successfully instituted a representative democracy in the 1920s (21:45).

During our “Take Five” segment, Professor Thompson tells us the five changes she would make in US policy that would help people in the Middle East achieve their own democratic desires (11:49).

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