Western-style institutions were judged by their failed local imitations, discrediting reform.

Evidence

Even the political institutions that had come from the West were discredited, being judged not by their Western originals but by their local imitations, in­ stalled by enthusiastic Muslim reformers. These, operating in a situation beyond their control, using imported and inappropriate methods that they did not fully understand, were unable to cope with the rapidly developing crises and were one by one overthrown. For vast numbers of Middle Easterners, Western-style eco­ nomic methods brought poverty, Western-style political institutions brought tyr­ anny, even Western-style warfare brought defeat. It is hardly surprising that so many were willing to listen to voices telling them that the old Islamic ways were best and that their only salvation was to throw aside the pagan innovations of the reformers and return to the True Path that God had prescribed for his people. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1582

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how does this ‘local imitation discredits the original’ pattern play out in other diffusion-of-institutions cases, e.g. democracy promotion or legal transplants?
• XREF: Parallels Milgrom’s law-merchant work and how transplanted institutions that don’t fit local conditions fail.