An excellent question and you are right, without educated voters and a free and fair press, democracy can fail. However with a strong constitution that guarante

An excellent question and you are right, without educated voters and a free and fair press, democracy can fail. However with a strong constitution that guarantees basic human rights and free speech, and first and foremost, separation of church and state, it can help, but it takes some enlighten people willing to go against the majority in Islamic countries today. I remember what happened in Algeria in the 90's the elections were fairly democratic , and people voted for the worst kind of islamists. Same with Egypt. Tunisia today is an exception. In the rest of the arab world, people will elect Islamists whenever they are given the choice. But maybe that is a necessary evil in order for the region to evolve. I think the west messed up enough with the politics in that area and actually prevented some kind of "natural" course of action. I hope Tunisia succeeds in becoming the first true "free and democratic" nation of the middle east.