So far, the Arab revolts have vindicated the assumption that, given the structure of most Arab societies, toppling secular autocracies inevitably means opening the door to Islamic democracies. We saw that dynamic play out in Algeria in the early 1990’s, with the Islamic Salvation Front’s first-round victory in a parliamentary election (which prompted the cancellation of the second round); with Hamas’s electoral victory in Palestine in 2006; and, most recently, with the Muslim Brotherhood’s democratic rise to power in Egypt.
目前，阿拉伯革命已经证明了一个假设——大多数阿拉伯社会的结构决定了推翻世俗独裁免不了意味着开启了伊斯兰民主的大门。我们多次看到了这一动态。20世纪90年代初的阿尔及利亚是如此，伊斯兰救世阵线（Islamic Salvation Front）在议会选举第一轮中胜出（这导致第二轮选举被取消）；2006年哈马斯在巴勒斯坦选举中获胜也是如此；还有最近的穆斯林在埃及的民主崛起和掌权。