Posts Tagged "Democracy"
Democracy in the Middle East: Why this is a frightening prospect for its rulers
It’s no secret that today the Middle East lacks the democratic political past, high literacy rates and high standards of living to claim democracy as its main political system. The political and economic reforms that occurred in Central and Eastern Europe or in East Asia and stimulated democratic change cannot be compared to the authoritarian Arab leaders in the majority of the Arab countries. Besides, the Arab nations have been persistently resistant to economic modernization and democratization, a concept that has been known as ‘Arab exceptionalism’. Also, by being fundamentally religious rather than secular states, Arab nations believe in individual choice as promoted by Islamic fundamentalism.
Many Arabs in the Middle East are dissatisfied with their autocratic leaders who had promised heaven but delivered filth and tyranny. And possibly this demonstrates that democratic governance in the eyes of lay people in the Middle East is a possibility that has nothing to do with their Arab and Islamic culture. Like their counterparts elsewhere, Arabs have strived for liberating themselves from political totalitarianism, for the most part unsuccessfully because their powerful dictators were supported by the West. Yet, the lay people in Iraq viewed the US troops as liberators from the oppressive ruling of Saddam and his autocracy.
Indeed, Islam complicates democracy. Even after its defective elections, Iran, a long-standing theocracy, demonstrates an extraordinary democratic vigor. Some of the toughest Arab elections have been held by Palestinians under Israeli ruling and by Iraqis after the US invasion. So, in a way, Islam has allowed democracy to its territories. On the other hand, Arab leaders hold on to their power through a distrustful combination of bullying and intimidation. Occasionally, they allow hollow parties organize counterfeit elections, which then return them to power. When they are given the chance to participate in genuine elections, they know what is at stake and what is going to be possibly split between Islamist movements and secular movements that are scared of Islam. Most of the cosmetic reforms that were made under the ‘freedom agenda’ of Bush administration after the September 11, 2001 attacks have been rolled back. So, in a way, Islam chooses when to prevent and when to allow democracy.
One of the most common obstacles in democratic transformation in the Middle East is religious freedom. Islam emphasizes that people are free to choose to believe or not. Muslim history documented many debates in mosques about the existence of God, particularly in the first three centuries. Besides, Qur’an emphasizes on justice and consultation (shura). According to many political analysts, in the absence of clear institutions to identify how consultation should take place in the Muslim culture, many Arabs failed to interpret the message. Hence, the interpretation of some elements of Islam as liberal is rather unfortunate.
Another element that should be taken into consideration is the fact that in many Arab countries regimes are quite permanent. Hosni Mubarak is the President of Egypt over the last 28 years; Muammar al-Gaddafi is the de facto leader of Libya since 1969; Hafez Assad was the President of Syria for 30 years. After his death, his son Bashar rose to power. After the failure of Bush administration to promote democracy, president Obama promotes respect in his talks with the Arab world. No matter what that means to the Muslims, democracy is a long shot for the Arab nations because Arab leaders won’t be able to control the masses like they do now.
For the Arab world, democracy implies education, institutions, free press and tolerance. Like in the Western countries, in the Arab nations, women are becoming educated, fertility declines, businessmen participate in the economy and the media have shifted from the state-run media to the revolution of the satellite television that forces leaders to explain and justify and explain themselves in public. All this transformation is not enough to cause a big change and it’s definitely not welcome from the rulers. However, it creates an agitation that alters the setting of corruption and totalitarianism of the old Arab governments.
In reality, it appears that the Arabs want to maintain the status quo because a free media that will awake the Arab people to the brutality of the regional governments won’t be to the best national interests of the Arab nations.
I work as a financial and investment advisor but my passion is writing, music and photography. Writing mostly about finance, business and music, being an amateur photographer and a professional dj, I am inspired from life.
Being a strong advocate of simplicity in life, I love my family, my partner and all the people that have stood by me with or without knowing. And I hope that someday, human nature will cease to be greedy and demanding realizing that the more we have the more we want and the more we satisfy our needs the more needs we create. And this is so needless after all.
Blank State – The Future of World Democracy?
A new project that aims to create a global democracy from scratch has settled on its first goal: to gather at least one member from every country in the world. Blank State, as the group is known, has been founded on a single core principle: democracy. The members collectively decide the goals and structure of the group through discussion and voting. Membership is free and open to all world citizens.
According to the founder, Duncan Rickelton, a democratic structure to represent the people of the world is long overdue: “The people of the world currently do not have a voice. The massive forces at play in today’s global economy are touching more and more lives and determining the future of the planet and the human race. It’s time the race as a whole had more of a say in how this goes.”
Only with fairly recent developments in technology has something like Blank State become possible. Over 23 percent of the world’s population now have internet access, representing an increase of 350 percent since 2000. Also, the popularisation of web 2.0 applications such as embeddable voting widgets is now making it easier than ever to collectivise the decision-making process of large organizations. Blank State is based in a social network (http://blankstate.ning.com) built on the Ning.com platform, which was itself only founded in 2005.
There are already members from eight different countries, but Blank State wants to go much further. The group recently decided to make it their first goal to get at least one member from every country in the world. “This will be our first step towards fair representation,” says Rickelton. “Once we’ve achieved that we’ll see where everyone wants to take this.”
Despite the growth in internet use, engaging a member in every country could be quite a challenge. In Myanmar, for example, still only 0.1 percent of the population has access. But the members of Blank State are undeterred. A message has already been posted in a Myanmar forum – there is still an internet audience of 40,000 people to reach.
A notable inclusion in the list of 195 target countries is the Vatican City. There is as yet no word as to whether the Pope will be invited to join, but with such an inclusive membership policy there is little doubt that he would be welcome.
For additional information about Blank State visit http://blankstate.ning.com
Why Are Our Companies Supporting Countries That Do Not Support Democracy?
I believe that it is time for our companies to stop making all our basic products over seas where people are being used for cheap labor to support economies that do not support democracy for all people. I think that our companies are taking advantage of cheap over seas labor to make more profit then they should off of products that should be made here at home. I believe that this practice by our companies is making our need for supplies from other countries more then it should be. I think that it is time for people to start rebuilding our own economy first. I think that buy investing in our economy here at home again for our basic needs will create more jobs for people that are not working in our country.
I believe that companies have to support democracy in our country by making our products here at home again. I believe that making so much of our countries basic products over seas is just taking money and jobs that are needed out of our country. This will just weaken our economy it will give money to countries that abuse their labor force. I believe that our country is not only weaken by this our companies are supporting countries that do not support democracy.
I think that companies that sell their products here should make their products here at home where our own people can prosper from all these sales. Why are our home based companies going to start supporting democracy for all people. I know when one child or person works for less then a fair wage democracy takes two steps backwards. Supporting unfair labor over seas will just make democracy that much harder to support. How can our country preach democracy to other countries when our home based companies abuse their labor force to line the pockets of their government and our own companies.
Is it true that the US is trying to make the whole world a democracy?
And that’s why the Islamic world has declared Jihad on us? Because everywhere we go, we get rid of their Islamic law and instill Democracy?
world democracy
Is the Muslim world ready for democracy?
Given the civil war in Iraq, is the Muslim world ready for democracy? Do they want it, or is democracy just a Western idea that doesn’t suit Muslim countries?
world democracy