One of the huge mistakes made by numerous people from all backgrounds is to believe that current Middle East and North Africa societies can become democratic. My 50 years of acquaintance with this region's history, politics and cultures brought me to realise how impossible this ambition is. The obstacle that blocks such a transformation is neither related to the rulers nor political lives of the nations of this region. The obstacle is deeply rooted in the region's societies and specifically in their condition as extremely theocratic societies. I am now, after five decades of studying and writing about this region's problems, in no doubt that the first step towards the democratisation of the Middle East and North Africa states is to secularise such societies. Once the majority of the sons and daughters of the societies of this region believe in the separation between the state and religion, the political lives of this region's nations will be on the path to democratisation. The external parties that were imagining that the immediate democratisation of this region's countries was doable must relinquish such a utopian target and focus on the mechanisms that could assist the societies of this region to surpass their current theocratic condition that impedes the targeted separation between religion and the state. The mechanisms that would move the societies of the region from their current mix between religion and the state should entail a combination of cultural, media, educational and political schemes. The focus on tailoring and introducing such schemes must replace blind endeavours such as the so-called Arab Spring and the far from wise attempts to force regime change, similar to the catastrophes that occurred in Libya and Syria. In an ideal and ethical world, international society would tailor schemes combined with economic and trade deals to create the appropriate societal atmosphere for such an imperative transformation from the current condition, where religion is an involved factor in all aspects of public sphere life, to a targeted separation between religion and the state. The writer is political thinker and visiting professor at a number of European universities.
