Where the Left Faltered

"There has been no greater abdication of leadership by the left since 1945 than its failure in the past decade to articulate how we should transform tyranny into freedom. The progressives should own this issue, but today it is President Bush's New American Century vanguard who are shaping new democracies in their own image. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's most likely new prime minister, faces a forbidding set of challenges in constructing the world's newest democracy. The prospects for consolidation look mixed. Will Iraqis commit to democracy and reject the alternatives?

We cannot know the answer, but we do know that no significant left-of-centre voice, except perhaps Blair's at the margin, is influencing the debate.

When Bush first articulated his democratisation, the left sneered. After elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, progressives need to re-evaluate their view of Bush's aims, even if still opposed to his means. While not trusting the New American Century view that we can make these states democracies from above, we need to engage with the people forging these democracies from below."

The rest here.