NYTimes -- Left Has Hard Time in Era of Terrorism

In the West liberal democracy became possible only after centuries of economic growth and philosophical debate. In his classic 1927 book, "The History of European Liberalism," the Italian scholar Guido de Ruggiero showed how principles of liberal government developed in England, France, Germany and Italy over three centuries. How, then, can preliberal or fundamentalist societies be quickly transformed into liberal democracies? And if they are not, how are their militant threats to liberalism to be addressed?

There are no simple answers to these questions, but they address issues at the heart of the liberal idea.

Part of my debate with Peter Taylor about Iraq is that he sees conquering Iraq as a means of bringing them into the modern democratic world. To me this is a foolish expectation based on both history and on this administration's attitudes toward democracy. This administration practices corporate-interest imperialistic realpolitik not democracy building