Tony Blair. Photo: wiki commons.

Tony Blair believes that Egypt has “no future as an Islamic state that aspires to be part of a regional caliphate.”

Writing for Project Syndicate, the former UK Prime Minister and current Special Envoy for the Quartet to the Middle East, said that “those who support an intrinsically secular approach to government – and this is true in most of the region – are probably in the majority.”

But Blair also offers a warning to those in Egypt who think the democratic process is the be-all and end-all to the country’s problems: “Democracy is a way to decide who the decision-makers will be, not a substitute for making decisions,” he writes.

He adds: “…democratic government alone does not guarantee effective government. Today, efficacy is the challenge. When governments do not deliver, people protest.”

“In Egypt,” Blair writes, focusing on the country currently undergoing its second revolution in three years, “the government’s problems were compounded by resentment of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and intolerance. People came to believe that the Brotherhood was steadily imposing its own doctrines on everyday life.”

Blair also addressed those observers who believe that the West should not involve itself in Egypt, saying it “cannot afford Egypt’s collapse.”

“So it should engage with the new de facto power and help the new government make the changes necessary, especially with respect to the economy, so that it can deliver adequate performance for Egypt’s citizens.”

Going further, he warns that the process  of democratization throughout the whole region will be slow and arduous:

“A long transition in the Middle East is underway. It is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Many in the West believe that it should be someone else’s job to help sort it out. But it is our job. This struggle matters to everyone.”