Fareed Zakaria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zakaria is regarded by some as a political liberal[1] or moderate.[2] In foreign policy terms, he is a "realist," believing that American foreign policy should be guided by a conception of its national interest.[citation needed] His first book, From Wealth to Power, argues that countries that grow rich and powerful inevitably expand their sphere of interests abroad.[citation needed] He sees America as a reluctant great power in the late 19th century, a strong nation with a very weak central state.[citation needed] Zakaria is an advocate of free markets, globalization and multilateralism.[citation needed]
In his second book, The Future of Freedom, Zakaria argues that democracy works best in societies when it is preceded by "constitutional liberalism." He has written that historically liberty has preceded democracy, that countries that simply hold elections without broad-based modernization—includ ing economic liberalization and the rule of law—end up becoming "illiberal democracies". Consequently, he has been critical of the manner in which the Bush administration has pushed its democracy agenda forward, relying on elections in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon as the solution to those countries' problems and minimizing the building of the institutions of law, governance, and liberty.
After the 9/11 attacks, Zakaria wrote an essay for Newsweek entitled "The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?". He argued that Islamic terrorism has its roots in the stagnation and dysfunctions of the Arab world. Decades of failure under tyrannical regimes, all claiming to be Western-style secular modernizers, has produced an opposition that is religious, violent, and increasingly globalized. Since the mosque is a place where people can gather and Islam an institution outside the reach of censorship, they provided a context for the growth of the political opposition. Zakaria has argued for a generational effort to create more open and dynamic societies in Arab countries, thereby helping Islam enter the modern world.
In a June 11, 2007 cover essay, Zakaria criticized "fear-based" policies on terrorism, immigration, and trade, arguing that beyond George W. Bush the world needs an open and confident United States.[3]
At the end of the October 19 edition of GPS, Zakaria endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential Election.
[edit] Iraq War views
While Zakaria initially supported using military force against Iraq, he argued for a United Nations-sanctioned operation and occupation with a much larger force (approximately 400,000 troops, similar to what General Eric Shinseki had argued for). He also called for a Bosnia- or Kosovo-style occupation that was international, rather than American, in nature. He wrote a Newsweek cover essay the week the Iraq war began entitled "The Arrogant Empire," which detailed the failures of the Bush foreign policy in the run-up to the war.
He was an early and aggressive critic of the occupation, arguing against the disbanding of the Iraqi army and bureaucracy, which the administration accomplished as part of its goal of "de-Baathification." He predicted that accelerating the build-up of the Iraqi military would create a Shia and Kurdish army that would exacerbate the sectarian tensions in the country. Four months into the occupation, his columns bore such titles as "Iraq Policy Is Broken," and in September 2003 he wrote a cover story for Newsweek entitled "So What's Plan B?" In a February 2005 issue, the week before Iraq's elections, he wrote, "no matter how the voting turns out, the prospects for genuine democracy in Iraq are increasingly grim." In his March 5, 2007 Newsweek cover essay, Zakaria called for a reduction in American troops in Iraq to 60,000 by the end of 2007. He did not forsee the successes in Iraq following the spring of 2008.
[edit] Participation in Wolfowitz meeting
In his 2006 book State of Denial, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote that, on November 29, 2001, a meeting of Middle East experts and analysts was convened at the request of then–Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The outcome of the meeting was a report for President George W. Bush concerning American policy toward Afghanistan and the Middle East in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a report that supported the subsequent invasion of Iraq. Zakaria told The New York Times that he attended the meeting for a few hours but that he "thought it was a brainstorming session" and did not recall being told that a report for the President would be produced. [4]
On October 21, 2006, after verification, the Times published a correction that stated:
An article in Business Day on Oct. 9 about journalists who attended a secret meeting in November 2001 called by Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense, referred incorrectly to the participation of Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a Newsweek columnist. Mr. Zakaria was not told that the meeting would produce a report for the Bush administration, nor did his name appear on the report.
[edit] Criticism
Wisconsin Citizen Action member Roger Bybee, in a piece entitled "Fareed Zakaria, Spokesperson for the Global Elite" for the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting organization, writes that Zakaria's "fervent embrace of the perspectives of the powerful keeps him in a state of denial regarding fundamental realities of the global economy." [5]
[edit] Personal
Zakaria is a naturalized citizen of the United States.[6] He currently resides in New York City with his wife, Paula Throckmorton Zakaria, son Omar, and daughters Lila and Sofia. Zakaria has weighed in on his Muslim background on only one occasion, telling the Village Voice, "I occasionally find myself reluctant to be pulled into a world that's not mine, in the sense that I'm not a religious guy."[7