Is Maliki Turning into a Strong Man?

Marc Lynch posts the argument from Gregory Gause of the University of Vermont that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is successfully positioning himself not as the head of a democratic government, but as your run-of-the-mill Middle Eastern strong man (albeit in a Shia variety).

A lot of the facts and analysis that Gause assembles could be debated, of course, but an interesting question arises: if, in fact, Maliki is steering the ship of state in Iraq toward some form of Shia authoritarianism, and that has the effect of creating a coherent, stable Iraq (south of the Kurdish Regional Government), would we accept this outcome? Could we stop it even if we wanted to?