Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DEMOCRACY IN MENA
1. Larry Diamonds Why Are There No Democracies in the Arab World
-Causes democracy deficit in the Middle East
-Most Common Assumption is that it has to do with Religion and Culture
-Though neither religion nor culture offers a convincing explanation for the Arab
Democracy Deficit
- Author believes it is the perverse sociopolitical effects of being so awash in
petrochemical deposits (The Oil Curse)
-Religion and Culture, Arab views on democracy
-Some Arab populations simply do not like democracy because they do not like the idea
of self-government. Though there are Arabs that do support democracy and it does not vary by
religiosity.
- Jamal and Tessler conclude that Arabs actually value democracy, even if their concern
for stability leads them to want it to come only gradually, and that religious politics nor personal
religiosity do not pose a major obstacle.
-Economic Development and Social Structure: democracy & rentier states
- Arab countries are quite economically well to do to gain and keep democracy so that
isnt the issue
-If economic level is not the problem, it is the economic structure where rentier states
depend on oil and gas to keep their states afloat
-Since the Oil Revenue is so large it increases the power of the state bureaucracy, and
also reduces the need for taxation. Since there is little to no taxation, it gives a less of a reason
for publics to demand representation.
-Authoritarian Statecraft,& the mukhabarat
-Mukhabarat- is the secret police and intelligence apparatus which represses the Arab
people, not allowing them to have a voice or go against the authority of the state.
- political oppositions in the Arab world become divided, suspicious, and torn from
within due to the rule of the authoritarians.
-The Coils of Geopolitics, foreign aid for Arab regimes
-For Non-Oil Regimes, foreign aid is like oil which is another source of rents that
regimes use for survival. Like oil, aid flows into the central coffers of the state and helps to give
it the means both to coop and to repress.
-Western aid makes possible the regimes key political strategy of spending massively on
public jobs without imposing steep taxes.
2. The Economists Back to the Ottomans
- In the earlier years leaders such as Khomeini believed that the leader (velayat) had
power from g-d and that it shouldnt be challenged by the people. Back then there wasnt really a
separation between church and state.
- In Iran Today there is a public outcry for more democracy and less interference by the
clerics in politics.
4. Sajjad Khan, Islam is Superior to Western Democracy
-Advantages of Islam over democracy
- Western Democratic values are inferior to the political values prescribed by Islam.
- 1.Western politicians judge actions they do in this world according to their own criteria
usually to pursuit the material benefit (Islam has life after Death, so the leaders can be
accountable for their actions)
-2. The analysis of whom the western politicians really serve. They serve the big
corporations not the people
-3. Its not simply the politicians that are involved but it is the entire spectrum.
-4. Corruption is made easier in capitalist societies because not all people follow politics
or adhere to their rules.
-Why Politics is Inseparable from Islam?
-Politics is inherent within the Islamic ideology that it came to solve all problems and
came to address the peoples affairs. The Imam is in charge and he is responsible for his
citizens (Koran).
-Islamic Ideology cant co-exist alongside other ideologies such as communism or
capitalism within the same society.
-Fallacies on Islam & democracy
-The idea that democracy is modern and Islam backward is incorrect. Islamic civilization
carried the banner of human progress and development to unprecedented levels.
- Progress in Europe did leap from the Greeks and Romans to the enlightenment. This
Jump in history misses years of Islamic rule in Spain.
-Democracy is applicable in all places and cultures. It is rather not and the rise of Western
Europe had a lot to do with military colonialism and imperialism.
ISLAM & DEMOCRACY
1- Eric Davis Reflections on Religion and Politics in Post- Bathist Iraq (2007
-relationship between politics & religion
- While a particular religion may require the believer to defend the religion in the event of
an external threat, politics per se is not a condition of membership in any faith.
-When religion intersects with politics, the outcome need not necessarily entail hostility
to members of other faiths.