Democracy, Take Two: Foreign Affairs

“Most of the million tourists who visit the Maldives every year leave without seeing even a hint of the political violence that has shaken the country over the past few years,” writes Eric Randolph for Foreign Affairs.

“Sipping cocktails in secluded island resorts, one would be hard-pressed to imagine that the islanders were, until five years ago, ruled by Asia’s longest-running dictatorship, that hundreds have been seriously injured in street clashes and at least one senior politician stabbed to death in the street in recent years, and that hard-line political Islamists helped to topple the country’s first-ever democratically elected president only last year.

It can also be difficult to believe that what happens here matters to the rest of the world. But stability in the Maldives — a Sunni Muslim nation of 300,000 people scattered across almost 1,200 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean — is important. The country lies on a major trade route between East Africa and China and could function either as a bulwark against piracy and smuggling or part of the problem.

It also demonstrates the danger of Saudi-funded clerics spreading Islamic militancy to once-moderate Muslim countries, potentially threatening neighboring countries such as India. Finally, as the Maldives holds its first post-coup election, it offers important lessons for other nations in transition. Indeed, the challenges it has faced since introducing its new constitution in 2008 — dealing with the legacy of past authoritarianism and managing the threats unleashed by democracy — reflect those of other countries undergoing rapid change, from Burma to Egypt and beyond.”

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