ISLAM AT LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

Robin Wright
Of all the challenges facing democracy in the 1990s, one of the greatest lies in the Islamic world. Only a handful of the more than four dozen predominantly Muslim countries have made significant strides toward establishing democratic systems. Among this handfulincluding Albania, Bangladesh, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Pakistan, and Turkeynot one has yet achieved full, stable, or secure democracy. And the largest single regional bloc holding out against the global trend toward political pluralism comprises the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
Yet the resistance to political change associated with the Islamic bloc is not necessarily a function of the Muslim faith. Sa totoo lang, the evidence indicates quite the reverse. Rulers in some of the most antidemocratic regimes in the Islamic worldsuch as Brunei, Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Syria, and Turkmenistanare secular autocrats who refuse to share power with their brethren.
Overall, the obstacles to political pluralism in Islamic countries are not unlike the problems earlier faced in other parts of the world: secular ideologies such as Ba’athism in Iraq and Syria, Pancasila in Indonesia, or lingering communism in some former Soviet Central Asian states brook no real opposition. Ironically, many of these ideologies were adapted from the West; Ba’athism, for instance, was inspired by the European socialism of the 1930s and 1940s. Ang mahigpit na kontrol ng gobyerno sa lahat ng bagay mula sa mga komunikasyon sa Saudi Arabia at Brunei hanggang sa mga dayuhang bisita sa Uzbekistan at Indonesia ay naghihiwalay din sa kanilang mga tao mula sa mga demokratikong ideya at debate sa popular na empowerment. Sa pinakamalaki at pinakamahihirap na bansang Muslim, saka, mga problemang karaniwan sa [Pangwakas na Pahina 64] umuunlad na estado, mula sa kamangmangan at sakit hanggang sa kahirapan, gawing priyoridad ang simpleng kaligtasan at gawing tila luho ang demokratikong pulitika. Finally, tulad ng kanilang mga kapitbahay na hindi Muslim sa Asia at Africa, karamihan sa mga lipunang Muslim ay walang lokal na kasaysayan ng demokrasya kung saan mahuhugot. Habang umusbong ang demokrasya sa mga estadong Kanluranin sa nakalipas na tatlong siglo, Ang mga lipunang Muslim ay karaniwang nabubuhay sa ilalim ng mga kolonyal na pinuno, mga hari, o mga pinuno ng tribo at angkan.
In other words, hindi ang Islam o ang kultura nito ang pangunahing hadlang sa modernidad sa pulitika, kahit na minsan ginagamit ng mga di-demokratikong pinuno ang Islam bilang kanilang dahilan. 1 Sa Saudi Arabia, for instance, ang namumunong House of Saud ay umasa sa Wahhabism, isang puritanical brand ng Sunni Islam, una upang pag-isahin ang mga tribo ng Arabian Peninsula at pagkatapos ay bigyang-katwiran ang pamamahala ng dinastiya. Tulad ng ibang monoteistikong relihiyon, Nag-aalok ang Islam ng malawak at kung minsan ay salungat na pagtuturo. Sa Saudi Arabia, Ang mga paniniwala ng Islam ay piling hinubog upang mapanatili ang isang awtoritaryan na monarkiya.

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  1. Usually I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this article really forced me to do so! Thanks, really nice article.

  2. Mohamed says:

    Thank you for the interesting article… Gayunpaman, I find myself unable to swallow the idea of branding democracy as liberalYes the two concepts are related as they originate from a common theoretical background, nonetheless, theory of liberal toleration is closely related to Christian faith (kingdom of Christ and kindgom of man) which is not the case in islamic theology or political thinking… Kaya naman, if we accept the idea of democracy, this does not mean that we should accept the liberal theory as a consequence.

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