Islam and democracy: comment
Dec. 22nd, 2007 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerI made the following comment to another classmate's essay on this topic.
I think you are spot on in saying that for democracy to grow in the Middle East it has to find roots in preexisting cultural and social traditions, and that if we're talking about the entire region as a whole, then that needs to be Islam (since Arabs aren't going to have the same ethnic or tribal traditions as Kurds or Turks or Iranians).
And I think your use of the term "installing" is an accurate and revealing one. I think as proselytes of democracy, too many American policymakers think of democracy as a 'module' that can be 'installed' anywhere. They tend to forget that it grew organically through many centuries in Europe and North America, with a lot of dead ends and false starts before it became what it is today (and that, as Jessica observes, is far from perfect itself). Democracy is not just sociological software that we can 'port' to a new national or regional 'system architecture' and install. To continue the metaphor, local users need to make their own requirements determination, see how this new concept will work in their operating environment, and rewrite the code (maybe a little, maybe a lot) to fit local needs.
And most of all, they have to *want* it. There will be no easier way to ensure the failure of democracy as a system of government than to try to impose it from the outside, especially by force of arms. The US (and the West in general) need to model this idea effectively, not *tell* people that they are going to have it no matter what. Of course some people want it even so, but for it to remain and grow roots (OK, switching metaphors), it has to be accepted as a good by everyone, not just the Western-leaning intelligentsia.
I think you are spot on in saying that for democracy to grow in the Middle East it has to find roots in preexisting cultural and social traditions, and that if we're talking about the entire region as a whole, then that needs to be Islam (since Arabs aren't going to have the same ethnic or tribal traditions as Kurds or Turks or Iranians).
And I think your use of the term "installing" is an accurate and revealing one. I think as proselytes of democracy, too many American policymakers think of democracy as a 'module' that can be 'installed' anywhere. They tend to forget that it grew organically through many centuries in Europe and North America, with a lot of dead ends and false starts before it became what it is today (and that, as Jessica observes, is far from perfect itself). Democracy is not just sociological software that we can 'port' to a new national or regional 'system architecture' and install. To continue the metaphor, local users need to make their own requirements determination, see how this new concept will work in their operating environment, and rewrite the code (maybe a little, maybe a lot) to fit local needs.
And most of all, they have to *want* it. There will be no easier way to ensure the failure of democracy as a system of government than to try to impose it from the outside, especially by force of arms. The US (and the West in general) need to model this idea effectively, not *tell* people that they are going to have it no matter what. Of course some people want it even so, but for it to remain and grow roots (OK, switching metaphors), it has to be accepted as a good by everyone, not just the Western-leaning intelligentsia.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-22 10:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-23 01:11 am (UTC)Oh, forgive me, I've been grumpy all day. Your point is a good one and my moaning has little to do with it.
I just don't believe that the US administration wants democracy, that's all, or anything like it. I understand the word "Democracy" to mean a government chosen by the people every few years, but the US administration I think generally takes the word to mean "a government which agrees with US policy".
I could be looking on the bleak side as usual. Although I'm not sure it's possible to have too bleak a view of George W Bush and his cronies.
Anyway. Peace. Happy Christmas :-)