In the Arab world, where I live as a non-Arab, there is indeed a visible lack of elections, though the local parliaments in Kuwait, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates have been elected. The key aspect of leadership is and remains 'wisdom.' In the UAE, a country I know well, wise leadership, even though it was not elected, has been the driver for progress. Indeed, there are some imperfections from a Western perspective, but efforts toward a good quality of life, a universal health care system and accessibility to the leadership are hallmarks of leadership. As observers, we also forget that this is a country where 40 years ago, less than 1% of the people had ever been in a car, and the whole country had a handful of schools.

Today, they are responding to the demands of massive growth and tackling the ills that come with it. Major labor reforms are being made to ensure that immigrant labor is not mistreated, and a recent landmark decision on cruelty to animals was passed. I have written for the local press, and not once have I been censored – and yet there is reform underway to bring more liberty to journalists. I have always said that leaders are not expected to be perfect but they are expected to be fair, and in this respect, while the system may be slow, there is a stronger propensity to be fair than say 10 years ago.

The images of leadership in the Arab world are varied and their impact is indeed inconsistent. It’s true that in UAE, leaders like Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum will be seen often without bodyguards driving around town or walking the campus of the American University and having a snack with awestruck students. But there are also images of President Assad in Syria, or the Iraqi president, surrounded by layers of security. The discord became all the more obvious when recently President Bush visited Dubai for four hours, and the whole city closed down because every major road had to be closed. So popularity is not necessary only ensured to an elected President.

Eventually the Arab world, and perhaps the UAE, will embrace the idea of adult franchise in its electoral system to even elect its President or Prime Minister. But the current reality is that the system works and the wisdom of its leadership is preferable to slogans of change and vested interests embedded in an electoral process. It’s not perfect, but it has overseen massive change and improvement for the people, all the more as these societies are tribal in nature and replacing a tribal system with a super imposed western model just doesn't work. Through education and progress, the future generations will be able to bring about a change and given the huge investment in education being made in UAE there is a better chance for a system of leadership to evolve that is more in tune with the history and society of the people.

So for me, I would rather be spared the drama of the election process for the moment, as the core attribute of wise leadership means a broad based view, selection of a good team and access to the people to listen to them. This we have, while still needing to be improved the over all progress and condition of society is value driven and open.