Islami ja liberaalse demokraatia
| september 08, 2010 | Kommentaarid 2
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 handful–including Albania, Bangladesh, Jordaania, Kyrgyzstan, Liibanon, Mali, Pakistan, and Turkey–not 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. Tõepoolest, the evidence indicates quite the reverse. Mõnede islamimaailma kõige antidemokraatlikumate režiimide valitsejad–nagu Brunei, Indoneesia, Iraak, Omaan, Katar, Süüria, ja Türkmenistan–on ilmalikud autokraadid, kes keelduvad jagamast võimu oma vendadega.
Üldiselt, poliitilise pluralismi takistused islamimaades ei erine probleemidest, millega varem kokku puututi mujal maailmas: ilmalikud ideoloogiad, nagu baathism Iraagis ja Süürias, Pancasila Indoneesias, või püsiv kommunism mõnes endises Nõukogude Kesk-Aasia riigis ei tekitanud tõelist vastuseisu. Irooniliselt, paljud neist ideoloogiatest olid kohandatud läänest; Baathism, näiteks, oli inspireeritud 1930. ja 1940. aastate Euroopa sotsialismist. Rigid government controls over everything from communications in Saudi Arabia and Brunei to foreign visitors in Uzbekistan and Indonesia also isolate their people from democratic ideas and debate on popular empowerment. In the largest and poorest Muslim countries, moreover, problems common to [End Page 64] developing states, from illiteracy and disease to poverty, make simple survival a priority and render democratic politics a seeming luxury. lõpuks, like their non-Muslim neighbors in Asia and Africa, most Muslim societies have no local history of democracy on which to draw. As democracy has blossomed in Western states over the past three centuries, Muslim societies have usually lived under colonial rulers, kings, or tribal and clan leaders.
Teisisõnu, neither Islam nor its culture is the major obstacle to political modernity, even if undemocratic rulers sometimes use Islam as their excuse. 1 In Saudi Arabia, näiteks, the ruling House of Saud relied on Wahhabism, a puritanical brand of Sunni Islam, first to unite the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and then to justify dynastic rule. Like other monotheistic religions, Islam offers wide-ranging and sometimes contradictory instruction. In Saudi Arabia, Islam’s tenets have been selectively shaped to sustain an authoritarian monarchy.
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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.
Thank you for the interesting article… Kuid, I find myself unable to swallow the idea of branding democracy as liberal… Yes 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… Hence, if we accept the idea of democracy, this does not mean that we should accept the liberal theory as a consequence.