The irreplaceable Front Line Club in London hosted a debate on Democracy Kills  and from the front row, from a man who had worked much in West Africa, came an astute observation about how assertive Western prescriptions are viewed around the world. With apologies for the paraphrase, he said: “You come to Africa and don’t like the way we dress and tell us to put on more clothes. Then you go to the Middle East and don’t like the way they dress and tell them to uncover themselves and take off more clothes. Who knows what you people ever want?”

No-one actually disagreed with the premise that Democracy Kills — which was shame.  The urbane Nick Fielding who runs the Circling the Lion’s Den blog chaired us through with insights from Sami Zubaida, emeritus professor of politics and sociology at Birkbeck College, author of Law and Power in the Islamic World  and specific guidance on Afghanistan  from film-maker and journalist Najibullah Razaq and Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch Rachel Reid who told the story of an Afghan  man worried about a prospective wife because she wore too many ‘democracy clothes.’ 

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