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Islamists and Democracy; A Duck to Water?

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  • Islamists and Democracy; A Duck to Water?

    The right to vote —Ishtiaq Ahmed

    One should in principle allow all parties to take part in elections if they do not openly advocate violence and intolerance and commit themselves to respecting the equal rights of women and non-Muslims. However we need to develop mechanisms which ensure that a parliamentary majority is not abused by Islamists or any other extremists

    Article 21-3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) states: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

    The idea that the consent of the people is necessary for a legitimate government goes back to the ancient period. However, who exactly were the ‘people’ was an arbitrary category. Not until the 20th century did the idea that all men and women who were bona fide nationals of a state should be included in the ‘people’ or ‘nation’ gain respectability. Universal adult franchise was truly a revolutionary step forward in 1948.

    From the time of Plato a government based on the majority’s will or democracy has been viewed suspiciously. Ordinary people were supposed to lack good judgment and discretion and therefore were considered irresponsible as political actors. Such a prejudice continued into the 19th century and even the arch liberal John Stuart Mill wanted to restrict voting rights to men of education and property. He favoured state-supported education which would groom working class people to act responsibly and intelligently in the political sphere.

    To offset the ‘irresponsible use’ of the vote, he wanted to give the elite a plurality of votes and educated working people one vote each. He also supported female suffrage, provided women were educated. Therefore although he was elitist, Mill did believe that ordinary people could be made into good citizens through education. Needless to say the conservatives remained opposed to universal suffrage, both male and female.

    The struggle for the right to vote for the working class was spearheaded by Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels who wrote a number of articles and pamphlets on the theme. Other socialists and even social-liberals became supporters of male adult franchise and men in Western Europe gained the right sometimes in the 19th century.

    When the first labour and socialist parties started taking part in elections the upper classes were distraught. Some social democrats began to argue that a socialist state could be achieved through elections and a parliamentary majority. Marx and Engels had championed the right to vote for workers but advocated a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the masses. However, later they did acknowledge that a parliamentary road to socialism was possible. They also wrote in glowing terms about the Paris Commune as an alternative type of direct democracy based on the workers’ power.

    However, the Russian Revolution of 1917 was the result of an armed uprising led by Lenin and his hardcore Bolsheviks. Although the Soviet constitution required elections and elections were held regularly, only the Communist Party could field candidates.

    On the other hand Hitler used the democratic procedure to come to power; once there he invested all his energies in attacking and destroying liberal freedoms.

    After World War II when the United Nations proclaimed peace, democracy and human rights as antidotes to tyranny and war, it was assumed that as the new states developed and modernised, they would also embark upon the road to democracy. The idea of free and periodic elections was recognised by most constitutions of the new states of Asia and Africa but few were able to translate the commitment into reality. Besides internal factors the baneful affect of the Cold War played an important role in subverting democracy in the Third World.

    A problem which was never resolved in the UN Charter or the UDHR was that of people voting into power a government which would abolish private property or institute racial laws or religious dogma as state ideology?

    The Soviet-type people’s democracies based on the one-party system were considered dictatorships, but as long as the Soviet bloc was intact nothing could be done to change the political system. On the one hand, when Chileans elected Salvador Allende into power his leftist government was overthrown through a conspiracy involving the Chilean generals and the CIA. On the other hand, the apartheid regime of South Africa openly practised racism but was never confronted or directly opposed by the USA or Britain; it fell only after a very long and painful freedom struggle launched by the ANC.

    If we look at the issue of Islamists taking part in elections there are two views present in the Western discussions on this matter. One is that they should be banned from elections. Only when they abandon their commitment to establish an Islamic state based on dogmatic sharia should they be allowed to take part in elections. The second view is that having authoritarian regimes as allies in the Arab world has resulted in the rise of extremism and terrorism. Therefore democracy should be promoted in the Muslim world.

    Would Islamists become good democrats if they take part in elections and gain power? Some people think that if the FIS had been allowed to assume power in Algeria it would have become a moderate party. On the other hand, critics point out that Abbas Madani, one of the leaders and ideologues of FIS, had declared that they will not take away women’s right to vote but would convince them to transfer it to their husbands or fathers!

    Under the circumstances, we need to ponder upon the prospects for democracy in the Muslim world. There can be no denying that Islamists are now a major constituency in all Muslim states. Can one establish democracy by excluding them? Equally, the question is why should I support the right to vote for Islamists if I fear that they will undermine my freedom to think and write and express myself?

    These are dilemmas that we face at present when discussing democracy in the Muslim world. I believe a middle path can be found. One should in principle allow all parties to take part in elections if they do not openly advocate violence and intolerance and commit themselves to respecting the equal rights of women and non-Muslims. However we need to develop mechanisms which ensure that a parliamentary majority is not abused by Islamists or any other extremists. We shall address this issue in a forthcoming article.

    The author is an associate professor of political science at Stockholm University. He is the author of two books. His email address is [email protected]

    http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...7-9-2005_pg3_2


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

  • #2
    What would be the raitio of non democratic governments in Islamic countires globally?

    Comment


    • #3
      It would be easier to count the real democratic governments in the Islamic world because it can be counted on the fingers than find out the ratio.

      Bangladesh
      Malaysia
      Indonesia
      Turkey


      any more?


      "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

      I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

      HAKUNA MATATA

      Comment


      • #4
        I wouldn't countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia as democratic.


        Turkey
        Azerbaycan
        Kazakistan
        Turkmenistan
        Albania
        Bosnia
        Djibouti


        and soon.

        Comment

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