Western-proposed solutions to Middle Eastern problems are discredited by the proposer
Evidence
In what has gone before I have tried to raise the conflicts of the Middle East from the level of a quarrel between states to that of a clash between civilizations. But civilizations can have no foreign policies, and governments must. The ques tion therefore remains: What action should the Western states take in the present Middle Eastern situation? My own answer would be: As little as possible. The peoples of the Middle East are going through a crisis of transition, which we helped to precipitate, but which they alone can resolve. The United Nations has the limited but overtaxing duty of keeping the peace or at least of curbing the appetites of violence. We of the West can also do something to help, on non political levels, but should beware of proposing solutions that, however good, are discredited by the very fact of our having suggested them. The West must, of course, safeguard its minimum interests, which I leave to others to define; it may also give some material help—though without hope of much political re turn. Apart from that, let us watch and wait, do little and say less, and hope that in time the peoples of the Middle East may find their own way back to stability and health. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1198
Categorization
- SEED: An essay on how being the wrong messenger invalidates good policy ideas — the credibility problem of great-power advice, from the Middle East to development aid.
- XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s finding that local institutions must run themselves rather than be imposed from outside.