Anyone who still holds that 9/11 validated the Lewis/Huntington clash of civilization thesis should read the book by the former Jordanian foreign minister, Marwan Muasher. True, The Arab Center is not a call for regime change, nor a simplistic celebration of Westminster democracy and a commitment to the full plethora of human rights. Instead, it is centered around the key thesis on which all moderation must be built: the rejection of violence, terrorism, and bombs, as a way to solve differences in human affairs.

The author is far from some outlier. He served as Jordan's Ambassador to the U.S.A., to Israel, and even as Jordan's deputy prime minister--in charge of reforms. Muasher sees the Arab world as composed of three groupings. Those who resort to force and reject compromise and negotiations, the Al Qaeda types, who he says must be fought. Those that are in transition from such armed struggles to political parties, such as segments of the Muslim Brotherhood, who one should encourage to complete the transition. And, large segments of the Arab world, who are moderate to begin with, dedicated to pursuing their objectives with peaceful means.

Much of the book is written in the form of a personal diary, describing the author's various experiences, from his mixed feelings when he attended his first celebration of the Israeli Independence Day (his mother and his wife's family originated in Palestine), to his encounters with Jordan's king. However, the book speaks to a very important issue, above and beyond its contribution to highlighting the fact that many Arabs are moderates--to the question what are the best ways to build democracy.

There is a tendency to equate initiation of democracy building with the introduction of fair and open elections. Outside the Arab world, much attention has been paid to the various color and flower (Orange, Tulip, Rose) "revolutions" all centered around conducting elections and abiding by their results in countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. Most recently, the struggle over elections has been the key factor in dealing with Zimbabwe. And of course in post Saddam Iraq, and in post Taliban Afghanistan, elections were introduced as the main way to turn these nations into democracies. Pressures were exerted on Egypt and Saudi Arabia to conduct democratic elections. However, when the elections in the West Bank allowed a terrorist organization, Hamas, to gain the upper hand, the Bush Administration's enthusiasm for elections lost much of its steam. Since, it has retreated to supporting the old, authoritarian regimes in some nations, and engaged in heavy handed manipulation of voting results in others.

Muasher points out that to build democracy the ground must be prepared in many ways. Those include curbing corruption, freeing the press, introducing a merit based civil service, at least a measure of checks and balances among the various branches of the government, as well as a significant measure of economic development. He is not against elections, but he does not view them as magically transforming in one fell swoop an authoritarian regime into a democratic one--unless the other elements are in place.

Muasher, like all sensible voices in the Middle East, supports the two state solution for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. He came to that conclusion, though, through a journey not familiar to most Western readers. Jordan originally considered the West Bank part of Jordan, and held that it--and the Palestinians--would be better off if it continued to be part of the Hashemite Kingdom. However, using my terms and not his diplomatic way of expressing himself, Jordan concluded that it had more than enough Palestinian citizens without adding those who live on the West Bank. It also hoped that Palestinian state would turn out to be a moderate and peace-oriented one. As they say in the Middle East, 'enshala'.

Anybody who reads this book, much of it devoted to the twists and turns in the quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, cannot but conclude that if there were many more level headed and fair minded public leaders like Muasher--on both sides--peace would have been established a long time ago.

Amitai Etzioni is Professor of International Relations at The George Washington University. For more discussion, see his book: Security First (Yale, 2007) or www.securityfirstbook.com email: comnet@gwu.edu