In light of recent events in Egypt, it bears asking what kind of freedom Arab countries are demanding.
This great piece by Fraser Nelson asks the basic question of whether it is truly economic freedom that some of these Arab countries is truly demanding.
Hernando de Soto, the renowned Peruvian Nobel Prize finalist, argued before the US Congress that the West had misread the Arab Spring. Many of those original martyrs of the cause were seeking basic economic freedoms, not necessarily democratic governance. The original spark that began the Arab Spring in Tunisia involved street vendors.
Property rights and a basic commitment to the rule of law would be a part of extending freedom to these countries.
Some argue that economic freedom leads to democratic freedom.
What is clear is that economic freedom and the rule of law should be central to the Arab Spring.
