Middle Eastern political forms should not be equated with Western originals

Evidence

To many Americans it must have seemed incongruous, if not uncongenial, that their government should support a king against an elected parliament, but the out­ ward forms of Middle Eastern political life should not mislead us into equating them with their Western originals. In the Middle Eastern poker game there is nothing inconsistent in a good republican’s playing a hand of three kings—and hoping that no one else will play the aces. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1194

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘three kings — hoping no one plays the aces’ poker line is a delightfully compact expression of why supporting autocrats needn’t contradict republican values.
• DEFINE: Clarifies that nominal parliamentary forms in the Middle East can legitimize authoritarian rule, a distinction between form and substance.