MADRID Once upon a time, despots simply acted like despots. Nowadays, they dress up their dictatorships in the trappings of the rule of law.

Giving life to constitutionally defined political institutions is far more important to the course of Iraq s immediate future than the specific provisions that the constitution contains. That has been the missing ingredient, not only in Iraq, but also in other countries ruled by despots.

The democratic world should never stand by idly while a tyrant uses military force to massacre civilians. But, if despots are to be deterred from untrammeled repression, any intervention whether military or in the form of economic and diplomatic sanctions must meet the test of impartiality.

This, in fact, would be a better building if we put mosaic portraits of Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and all the other great despots of the 20th century on the side of the building, because then we'd honestly be saying what the building is really communicating to us.

Yet, despite the rivalry of nations and the bloodiness of modern warfare, democracy is spreading. Indeed, in but half a century, Latin Americans rid themselves of all of that continent's military and civilian dictatorships, and Africa has eliminated more than half of the despots that have blighted its era of independence.

Dealing with despots and shady tycoons is no longer venal, but noble. Selling the franchise of a university or a museum to a Gulf state, building yet another enormous stadium in China, or making a fortune out of soccer favors to Russia or Qatar is progressive, anti racist, and a triumph of global fraternity and universal values.

FEZ Though women across the Middle East participated actively in the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second class citizens, even where popular uprisings managed to topple autocratic regimes. Indeed, the Islamist governments now in power in several countries seem more determined than the despots that they replaced to keep women out of politics.

Many fear precisely such an outcome for the Arab awakening, with popular movements toppling despots, only to install new dictators via elections. The only way to avoid it is to be more committed to the process of electing a government freely and fairly than to the leader or party that is elected, even when the victor is frankly inimical to your interests.

For Israel, yesterday s despots, like Egypt s former president, Hosni Mubarak, were much more predictable than the Arab masses. While some of the demonstrators might be inspired by democratic ideals, let s have no illusions, the Israelis seem to be saying Islamist forces will emerge as the only winners, and they are much more hostile to Israel and the West than their predecessors were.