Before the 2003 Iraq war, neoconservative theorists suggested that a liberated Iraq would be a vanguard of democracy. A democratic Iraq would lead to the fall of authoritarian rulers in neighboring states, and the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. This has sometimes been called the "democratic domino theory" or the "reverse domino theory." | Before the 2003 Iraq war, neoconservative theorists suggested that a liberated Iraq would be a vanguard of democracy. A democratic Iraq would lead to the fall of authoritarian rulers in neighboring states, and the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. This has sometimes been called the "democratic domino theory" or the "reverse domino theory." |