Nothing is instantaneous in politics. To think of elections as a panacea, let alone a sure road to real democracy, is to evince a failure of historical imagination. The proper role of the free world is not to encourage or to stop elections. Its role should be to formulate, and to stick by, a policy of incremental change based on creating the institutions that will lead ineluctably to pressure for more and more representative forms of government. The free world should place its bet on freedom — the hope and demand of Tahrir Square — and work toward a civil society defined by that value.

In executing such a policy, Western governments and nongovernmental organizations would donate funds only to individuals and groups working for the same goal; foster joint business ventures able to contribute to a liberal economy, which are desperately needed in a country on the verge of bankruptcy; encourage bottom-up enterprises in education, media and social reform; and collaborate with students, women’s groups, trade unions, liberal democrats and others pressing the cause of a free press, freedom of religion, the freedom to organize and the rule of law.

Whether, in Egypt’s case, the process will be lengthy or relatively brief depends on the Egyptian people. But it depends no less on the West’s determination to get on the side of those desirous of change, to influence the direction of change and to help shape the emergence of a new generation of leaders. Our choice does not lie between a corrupt military dictatorship and a totalitarian Muslim Brotherhood. If, between Western and Egyptian leaders, at least one of the two parties is wholeheartedly insistent on forging a free civil society, a democratic outcome is a strong possibility; if both parties are against it, all will truly be lost.