Tahrir Square during Egypt's Revolution. Mohamed Mostafa\/Demotix. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cLift your heads up high. You are Egyptians!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
This was the demonstrators\u2019 cry in Tahrir (Liberation) Square in Since 2011, early optimism about the Arab Spring has given way to In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, democracy in the region has Yet the Arab Spring showed the world a visible increase in the But the \u201cArab Spring\u201d led to an \u201cArab Winter\u201d, with wide-scale The history of political transition in the Middle East is filled Elza S. Maalouf, author of Emerge: The Rise of Functional Scholars like her believe that successful democratic systems Maalouf writes that the Middle East and Africa is immersed in Is it possible for the Arab world to advance through these New ways of addressing the complexities of life must emerge. Is Pluralism has not taken root in the contemporary Muslim world, The political future of the region is unclear, because it depends Tunisia, the country in the region most inclined toward However, there remains a strong secular minority in Tunisia. As a The establishment of a representative democracy with freedom of So, which form of governance serves as the best model to manage A democratic system that develops pluralism and new Tahrir Square during Egypt's Revolution. Mohamed Mostafa\/Demotix. All rights reserved. \u201cLift your heads up high. You are Egyptians!\u201d This was the demonstrators\u2019 cry in Tahrir (Liberation) Square in 2011, the year of the Arab Spring. The response from other parts of the square came in repeated bursts of \u201cAllah-hu-Akbar!\u201d (God is great.) Tahrir Square, in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2011, the year of the Arab Spring. The response from other parts of the square
\ncame in repeated bursts of \u201cAllah-hu-Akbar!\u201d (God is great.<\/em>) Tahrir
\nSquare, in the center of downtown Cairo, had become a microcosm of Egyptian
\nsociety, a common ground where Egyptians from all walks of life came together
\nto embrace a new future without octogenarian dictator Hosni Mubarak. This
\ncommon ground, however, did not last.<\/p>\n
\nuncertainty. The Midde East today is torn between radicalism and globalism in
\nits search for a new identity. The Arab political landscape is varied, and the
\nfuture of the entire region is being defined as some of these societies
\nintegrate incipient democratic and western ideas and values. Meanwhile,
\nsectarianism and religious fundamentalism is increasing in countries such as
\nIraq and Syria. All this is interconnected in a dynamic, living organism: the
\nMiddle East.<\/p>\n
\nbeen weakened. The Economist<\/em>\u2019s 2014 \u201cDemocracy Index\u201d indicates that
\n\u201cthe Middle East…recorded a very modest improvement in [its] regional average
\nscores between 2006 and 2014, but from very low bases indeed, and
\ndemocracy…weakened between 2013 and 2014. No region in the world has
\nexperienced more turbulence in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nnumber of citizens of Arab countries who identified themselves as \u201ccitizens of
\nthe world,\u201d typified by urban intellectuals and internet savvy young people who
\nled social media campaigns critical to the organisation of protests, and to the
\ninternational diffusion of information and images capturing government
\nrepression.<\/p>\n
\nviolence and instability. The violent eruptions in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, and
\nthe continued sectarian conflict in Iraq, especially with the rise of ISIS,
\nhave exacerbated the deterioration of incipient democratic institutions.
\nCosmopolitan movements struggle with the Islamists, on one side, and
\ndictatorial military or monarchical regimes on the other.<\/p>\n
\nwith false starts. Some political analysts believe that after this dark period
\nof dictatorships and radicalism, the Arab world would find a new path to
\nmodernisation without foreign imposition, while others believe that the region
\nmust adopt and adapt western models.<\/p>\n
\nDemocracy and the Future of the Middle East, writes, \u201cwestern
\nabstract values and ideals have no real-world connection to the history and
\nliving conditions of the people in the Middle East, and thus created sadly
\ndysfunctional forms of governance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ncannot be based on alien western value systems. They must instead respond to the
\nunique intellectual and social contexts of Arab nations, and may therefore look
\nquite different. Think tanks, not to mention governments and NGOs, often ignore
\nthis argument when they make recommendations that overlook the living
\nconditions and social norms that produce social values. The short-term future
\nof the region might not look as bright and euphoric as Tahrir Square did on the
\nday Mubarak was ousted.<\/p>\n
\nthree different stages. The \u00ad\u201dpurple tribal\u201d stage of development, where the
\ngroup is more powerful than the individual, and individual decision making may
\nlead to retribution and exclusion. The \u201cred dictatorships\u201d\u2014Egypt, under the
\nmilitary rule, and Syria, under the rule of a second generation Assad\u2014where\u00a0leaders are interested in personal
\ngain, power and domination. And the \u201cblue level\u201d, also described as \u201cthe Truth
\nForce\u201d, which is organised around an absolutist belief in the \u2018correct way\u2019 requiring
\nobedience to authority, represented by the Islamic Sharia.<\/p>\n
\nstages, embracing a new political system?\u00a0The idea of this book is that
\nafter decades of building purple, red and blue structures, a culture is ready
\nto transition beyond to a fourth level; a new and more complex individualistic
\nlevel, much more complex and, according to the author, completely different.<\/p>\n
\nit possible for the Arab world to develop a \u201cdemocratic\u201d political system
\nwithout challenging Shari'a or Islamic values? Philippe d\u2019Iribarne in L\u2019Islam Devant La D\u00e9mocracie<\/em>
\ndeclares that if the success of a democracy depends on pluralism, diversity of
\nideas, and discussion, then Islam and democracy cannot be reconciled. He
\nbelieves that Maalouf\u2019s transitions cannot take place as long as religion is
\nthe foundation of Arab government and society, because a strong Islamic
\ninfluence forces political debate to fall into the logical trap of argumentum
\nad verecundiam<\/em>, associating authority (especially religious) with truth,
\nwhich invalidates opposing points of view.<\/p>\n
\ndue to the Islamic nature of these countries, according to the author\u2019s ideas.
\nYet, as we see in Egypt and Syria, secularism also exists in authoritarian
\nforms of government. Secular dictatorships will also not allow pluralism.
\nBecause of its dominant nature, there is no place for discussion, and
\nopposition can only be expressed through coups or revolts.<\/p>\n
\non the evolution of different political systems. What degree of
\nsecularisation\/Islamism will these societies allow? In Egypt, for example, the
\ncrowds in Tahrir Square that ousted Mohammed Morsi were supposedly even larger
\nthan the ones that ousted Mubarak, so the Muslim Brotherhood may realise that
\ntheir values no longer serve Egyptians.<\/p>\n
\ndemocracy, is not pursuing the traditional western understanding of
\ninstitutional democracy. Instead, it combines elements of religion and politics.
\nThere is resistance to western-style politics and institutions, and Islamic law
\nis forcefully present in parliament. With the overthrow of Ben Ali\u2019s regime,
\nIslamism was reintroduced in politics and was popular among the general
\npopulation.<\/p>\n
\nformer French colony, Tunisia and its leaders were heavily influenced by
\nla\u00efcit\u00e9 and small elements thereof are seen in the newly adopted constitution
\nof 2014.<\/p>\n
\nspeech and expression was one of the main goals of the Arab uprising. It is necessary
\nto implement a pluralistic system in which both secular and Islamic values can
\nemerge. The development of a political system that allows for opposition or
\ncompetition between a government and its opponents is typical of western-style
\ndemocracies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nthe complexity of the Mideast? How can Arabs create an Arab-style democracy
\nthat is more suited for them?\u00a0In the meantime, in the Mideast, Islam is complemented by charismatic leaders, creating a mix of the dictatorial and blue
\nsystems previously described. In a region where the political systems are
\nembedded in tribal and feudal mindsets, how can a new political model emerge
\nand be a guide to the region?<\/p>\n
\nvalues is unlikely to be embraced in the short term, but the era of
\ndictatorships and supremacy of religion is only a passing developmental stage
\nalong the journey towards the formation of a new political model.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"