Installing democracies may not work without prior cultural shifts
It’s long been unclear if democratic values in a society or democratic institutions come first
![woman voting in Iraq](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/120619_sg_democracy_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
The United States has spent years trying to establish democracy in Iraq (voting in 2005 in what was Iraq’s first general election in 35 years is shown). A new study may shed light on why those efforts, and other similar ones, have been so challenging.
serkan senturk/Shutterstock