by: Megat Hanis
Submitted to Dr. Danial
Political Science Department
Submitted to Dr. Danial
Political Science Department
Introduction
In the 21st century, democracy
has become a dominant ideology that penetrates almost every nation-state around
the globe. As ridiculous as it may be, the imperialist power agenda to spread
democracy has become totally misinterpreted by the common people around the world
as a necessary ideology that can fit into the system. Not only that, many
academic research, forums , talks, conference, summit held meant to promote
towards strengthening democracy by strengthening political institutions and
mass media to promote such ideology. In this paper, what I want to do is
explaining the term of democracy the way we actually believe it and describing
why we have been deceived by providing the hypotheses to be answered below.
Then, I would use Malek Bennabi`s thought to uncover the truth on how democracy
can be understand before it fits to be mature system by a process of
educational enterprises
Research Problem
Democracy has become a “savior ideology” to
enlightened the world today by promoting its underlying principle that is more
appealing than what is there being practiced by those superpower who brought it
upon other nations, case in point, the U.S. Democracy as determined by the
colonial is misguided and not meant to prevent dictatorship, but to monopoly
and indirectly control most part of the world by its “invisible imperialism”.
Purpose
The purpose of this research to show the
loopholes in democracy and its inevitable decline as defined by the west as the
sample and promote a new redefinition of how Islam promote democratic principle
in its unique approach by Malek Bennabi`s thought.
Hypothesis
In setting this up, there are three
hypotheses being set up
Hypotheses 1 : There is no clear
relationship between democracy and legitimization
Hypotheses 2 : There is no clear relationship
between democracy and high standard of living
Hypotheses 3 : There is no clear
relationship between democracy and liberties and freedom
Variable
Dependent : Democracy
Independent : 1) Legitimacy, 2) high
standard of living, 3) liberties and freedom
Methodology
Comparative analysis : Qualitative data
would be the major sources through which comparison can be made based on the
analytical reading on the principle of democracy promote by the west and the
consequences it bring to the society and how the redefinition of its framework
through the work of Malek Bennabi suits Islam and be compatible.
Literature Review
In the book, The Progressive Revolution : How The best in America
Can Be wriiten by Michael Lux in 2009, showed an interesting facts and
phenomenon without which my research problems and purpose of study would be
irrelevant. Throughout the book, Im am more inclined to cite three main issues
highlighted in its explanation. 1) Voting rights, 2) Government secrecy, 3) Big
money and corruption. Lux explain that the question of who gets the right to
vote remain highly controversial and debatable.
Considering Lincoln`s quote
“government of the people , by the people and for the people”, we still fail to
specifically determines which people has the right to vote. In U.S history,
from 1700s to 1900s between the democrats and the conservatives , the battle
over these issues, has been circling around this strata of people; the paupers,
the felon, migrants , immigrants and freed black during the 1819 after new
states join the Union. Charles Francis Adam Jr, the grandson of Adam Smith,
told us that “universal suffrage is the government of ignorances and vice.It is
dangerous and put the security and tranquillity of the country at stake if the
power given to the commoners.
Pertaining the government secrecy, Lux provide some cases where the
thin line between those secret that are meant to protect the public interest or
the interest of the elites in few cases like the elected J.Edgar Hoover, the
head of FBI who was in charge in spying over Martin Luther King under the name
of national security and delivering threat to clamp down King`s civil rights
movement activities. Another good examples would be Nixon`s scandal of the
Watergate`s conspiracy where Nixon use national security as an “executive
privilege” to cover up his activities
It goes the same with Reagan`s reign where “national security”
slogan was again imposed to put his illegal secret operation in camouflage to
sell arms to the Iranian government and use the money for assisting military
forces in Central America. These so called security issues, has undermined the
democratic principle meant to serve the public interest and in total rejection
of the former, provide a comfort zone for the elites to conduct their illegal
operation and practicing corruption in the shades. The last point that Lux
further stress and the most important and obvious part of the book is about big
money and corruption.
After civil war , capitalism has become the dominant faith. Corporations established bigger and become superpower. Government has been used to support the wealthy because after all it was them who sponsored our politician. Indirectly, they adopted the social Darwinist theory that the stronger, the wealthy and the superpower survive and advance the society and those who can`t cope up and weak would be left behind the “modern civilization”.
In U.S, for example, one of the most intriguing issue concerning
the federal government failure in supervising the private company corruption
and led directly to the 1929 stock market crash and unfortunately bring the
country into the worst depression the country ever seen. To conclude, I think
the quote from senator from Kansas, John Ingalls, about those who want to
reform democracy is suffice to explain the situation we live in, “The
purification of politics is an iridescent dream. Government is force. Politics
is a battle for supremacy…To defeat the antagonist and expel the party in power
is the purpose.”
Based on all the principle of democracy freedom of speech, equality before law, freedom of press and its accountability, election, and sovereignity of the people and I would personally claim that all of the principle would be simply destroyed by only focusing on the 3 issues pertaining to what had happen in U.S.
The “Illusion”
How do we define illusion? What kind of perception that are
consider as an illusion? Can we actually differentiate what is illusion or what
is real? . Illusion according to Macmillan dictionary[1],
signifies two meaning, one that of wrong belief or false idea and the latter,
one that of appreance and effect that is different from it actually is. If so,
what is real? If we`re talking about things that we can see and touch and smell
then real is simply an electrical signal interpreted by our brain[2].
But human brain can only understand things and interpret it as far as within
the limits of space and time. Other than the physical world, brain needs heart
and conviction to understand things.
A belief sometimes include a conviction
that human mind can`t understand it through logic and reasoning but only
through the wisdom of revelation. So, the very least of thing that we can do
escape from this illusion is by educating ourselves and the people around us to
appreciate the power of thinking. Those who have been so long diluted by the
very system in their false consciousness need to be woken up. It is this
illusion that we have that nullified our purpose in strengthening democracy
with the false practices, with false promises and false expected outcomes
The Meaning of Democracy
The term of democracy itself as we all know
it come from the word Greek, “demos”
means “people” and “kratos” means “rule”. We can simply understand it as
the rule by the people. It gave the simple meaning that in modern context as a
system of government rule by the people. It is the people who decide the ruler
and what kind of law best suited to be implemented. It is the people who have
the right to choose the best policy for their interest. Not some elites or
monarch that chose what`s best for the
people.
Richard Hooker[3],
however explain, that if we were to refer our connotations of democracy to the
classic view on the Athenian city-states government, then it would lead to some
of this problem. In Athen, only all male citizens can participate directly in
the decision-making process excluding the slaves, foreigners and women. It can
always be said as a large minority but still not a majority. They applied
direct democracy. Even Abraham Lincoln quote “ Government by the people, of the
people and by the people” cannot be applicable to suit the greek term of “rule
by the people” because again we will encounter this question, “which people” ?
and more sarcastically, would the slaves and womens are not people”? “Did the
people they meant is a citizen? Not to go further on these questionable terms,
let us go directly to our main discussion.
The “Loopholes”
In the topic of the paper, when I mentioned the word “illusion” as
I define it above, we can understand that I am referring to the false
consciousness of our understanding towards democracy. By providing the
hypotheses above, the following should answer and test whether it is true by
using the variables.
1.Democracy and Legitimization
Can we be sure that only a system called “democracy” can ensure
legitimization of its governance? Like I
said before, when we refer to legitimization of rule, as we understand through
the original connotation of “ rule by the people”, we can simply make the perception that, it is legitimate if all
the people involved in the decision making. It is the people that decide their
leaders, or their representatives, the public policy and all the government
bureaucrats working in the interest of the public. They should be accountable
to the public interest as they are chosen by the people.
But things doesn’t work that way. In U.S, only small number of
states participates and exposed to the will of the people[4]. In
2002, 22 million government officials are employed surpassed those who are
employed in the manufacturing and construction with 20 million in statistics[5].
All these 22 million are not by any chance elected by the people and thus not
accountable to the people and only to the ministers and their department. In
Soviet Union, the appratchiks can be effectively compared with these government
officials in the U.S. Both are “sacrosanct” and “ untouchable” [6]
1.1 The paradox of election
Thomas Christiano (1996)[7]
mentioned that, in modern context, democracies has always been referred to
ensure three important principle ; 1)popular sovereignity ;2) political
equality ;3) political right. The first principle refer to each competent
adults come together and have the opportunities as one body to decide the law
and policies to regulate their life.
The second principle refers to the
equality that all citizens have to participate in the decision making process.
The third principle refer to rights of citizen have to express their opinions
and involve in open discussion in matter pertaining to the public interest. Dahl
(1989)[8]
also gave an interesting thought on democracy but he rather used the term
“polyarchy” in which he listed 7 institutions for the governemt to be
recognized as “polyarchy” . Among them are elected officials and free
and fair elections.
In order to make these principles materialize, the existence of
election is a very important institution through the process of legitimization.
But, this is where the paradox inevitably occur. According to Hoppe (2001)[9]
the original purpose of the election itself is nullified by the following :
- “A person is
deemed to be politically 'represented' no matter what, i.e. regardless of his
own will and actions or that of his representative.”
-“A person is considered represented if he votes, but also if he
does not vote.”
-“He is considered represented if the candidate he has voted for is
elected, but also if another candidate is elected.”
-“He is represented, whether the candidate he voted or did not vote
for does or does not do what he wished him to do.”
-“He is considered politically represented, whether 'his'
representative will find majority support among all elected representatives or
not.”
2 .Democracy and High Standard of Living
If it ever
occur to our mind that democracy will eventually provide a high standard of
living, well consider these factual evidence :
1) India has a
nominal per capita income that is over $1,000 and secure its place of 142 from
all the states in world in ranking although she is the world`s largest
democracy!. In contrast, Monaco has per capita income of $27,000 and United Arab Emirates where its nominal
per capita income is 17% higher than United States. Both of the latter
countries are not democratic countries.[10]
2) Democracy in
the U.S for example, state however that provides the inalienable rights such as
life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness[11].
It is clearly that the framework is decided by the state and citizens has no
room to define what kind of range of liberty that they want to pursue. In a
state-oriented policy, usually it lead to egalitarianism in which high
standards of living would be nullified.
3) When we
refer to term high standard of living, who benefits from high standard of
living?
In U.S , it is
always the poor who get the benefits from the economic growth and the poor were
left behind . Let us consider this :
“Average
household income before taxes grew in real terms by nearly one-third between
1979 and 1997, but that growth was shared unevenly across the income
distribution. The average income for households in the top fifth of the
distribution rose by more than half. In contrast, average income for the middle
quintile climbed 10 percent and that for the lowest fifth dropped slightly.
Furthermore, income growth at the very top of the distribution was greater yet:
average income in 1997 dollars for the top 1 percent of households more than
doubled, rising from $420,000 in 1979 to more than $1 million in 1997.”[12]
3.Democracy and
Liberties and Freedom
Did democracy
ever ensure such liberties and freedom? Well, first of all, who determine the
content and range of liberties and freedom? If it is the democratic states act
against the anti-democratic forces through law and exclusion than the state is
not democratic. Consider this :
“Article 54
Prohibition of
abuse of rights
Nothing in this Charter shall be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognised in this Charter....”[13]
Nothing in this Charter shall be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognised in this Charter....”[13]
What does it mean? When the democratic forces determines or provide
the framework through which the liberties and feedom are given (which mean they
can take it back) then, they can easily interpret it the way the want to
consider to be undemocratic. Therefore, those who considered as undemocratic
that engage in the activity is forbidden. So, where does the freedom lies
anymore?
What about this German constitution`s charter?
Article 18
“Whoever abuses freedom of expression of opinion, in particular
freedom of the press (Article 5 (1)), freedom of teaching (Article 5 (3)),
freedom of assembly (Article 8), freedom of association (Article 9), privacy of
letters and secrecy of post and telecommunication (Article 10), property
(Article 14), or the right to asylum (Article 16a) in order to combat the free
democratic basic order forfeit these basic rights. Such forfeiture and the
extent thereof is determined by the Federal Constitutional Court.”[14]
From this
charter, again, the same implication happens against our favour of
understanding democracy. The state, decide which activities is considered act
of abuse of the right given to practice democracy. This tactic has been use
widely to suppressed political parties in the name of democracy. Cohen (1997) [15]
also argue that, the party bans in
Israel was justified because there is no need to provide room for those who
undermine democracy and tried to annihilate the state by their own
self-destructive interest in using the rights given. This was also another
attempt to suppress political parties in the name of democracy.
From all the
hypotheses being analysed and presented, it is clearly proves that, there
is no clear relationship between all the variables to justify democracy the way
it is being connoted whether in classical terms and in modern terms. With all
the provided loopholes and intentional illusion inflict upon us towards
democracy, it is perhaps encouraged for us to look at how Malek Bennabi, a
renowned Algerian Muslim scholar redefine democracy and gave its special
flavour on its unique approach.
Malek Bennabi`s
Approach Towards Democracy
Bennabi`s approach is perhaps most desirable and
accurate for me in order to state how his redefinition of democracy contribute
towards a better understanding on how Islamic culture and Western`s values
in both paradigm can be blend in a
harmonious proportions. He, nevertheless , had never instil any prejudice
towards ideologies from the west but rather put much effort in contextualizing
it in total different way. For him democracy is :
-
An attitude towards one`s self
-
An attitude towards the other
-
As a socio-political harmonically mutual feeling between
individuals
With this, we can understand that he tried to bring the
concept of democracy as an educational enterprise. As an institution of
consciousness that teach us civility, shared values and ethics. It is a process
of democratization that teach our consciousness to eradicate any attempt or
element of despotic or anti-democratic. It is a form of development in human
consciousness most significantly translated in their cultural and humanistic achievement.
Without this consciousness as the precondition before democracy as we
understand as a transfer of power from the elite to the masses, then, the
government that is built is flawed. It is the government that contrast with
Abraham Lincoln quotes, it is rather “government from the idiot, of the idiot ,
to the idiot”.
More interestingly, Bennabi argued that, what makes
democratization in Islam excel others ; those in the west, or any definition of
democracy is that, while their democracy trying to appreciate man in the
presence of humanity and society, we, Islam teach to appreciate man in the
presence of God. It is impossible if in the presence of God, man would neglect their attitude toward their own self,
the other and the for societal development as whole. [16]
Conclusion
It is the utmost satisfaction that in the end of this
studies, we can found out that why democracy failed as a system of government
and imbued with many loopholes and clash of interest between the oppressor and
the oppressed . Like socialism and fascism, it is a system that is vulnerable
as a tool for some individuals or organizations and perhaps political party to
used as mean to take power in the new age of disguised called “democracy” while
they inflict them same despotic element. What Bennabi tried to tell us is that,
democracy must be trained and teached and learned as a mutul feeling or
understanding or even conciosness that binds us culturally , politically and
economically in the presence of God. It is in that framework, mature democracy
would emerge and that loopholes can begin to fade significantly.
References
1) http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/illusion
2) Excerpt
from the movie “The Matrix”
3) World
Civilizations general Glossary: Democracy
4) www.contraryinvestor.com
5) Christiano,T.(1996)
The Rule of Many : Fundamental Issues in Democratic Theory. Boulder: Westview.
6) Dahl,R.(1989).Democracy
and its Critics. New Haven: Yale University Press.
7) Hans
Hermann Hoppe: Democracy. The God That Failed.
8) Source:
IMF data for 2008 (www.imf.org)
9) US Declaration of Independece, 1779
10) Historical Effective Tax Rates, 1979-1997, Congressional Budget
Office, 2001
Retrieved at
www.cbo.gov/publication/13089
11) Draft Charter of the Fundamental Human
rights in European Union
12) Constitution of Germany
13) Raphael Cohen-Almagor.(1997). Disqualification of political
parties in Israel: 1988-1996
14) Yahia H. Zoubir (1998).American Journal Of Islamic Social Science
: Democarcy and Islam in Malek
Bennabi`s Thought
Retrieved at www.academia.edu/925740/Islam_and_Democracy
[1] http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/illusion
[2]
Excerpt from the movie The Matrix
[3] World
Civilizations general Glossary: Democracy
[4] Out of 281 million population it
has, only 435 representatives and senators elected at the state level. The
president himself does not directly elected by the people
[5]
www.contraryinvestor.com
[6] www.russiapedia.rt.com
[7] Thomas
Christiano (1996) The Rule of Many: Fundamental Issues in Democratic Theory.
Boulder: Westview. (Pg .3)
[8] Robert
A Dahl (1989) Democracy and its Critics. New Haven: Yale University
Press.(p.221-222)
[9] Hans
Hermann Hoppe (2001). Democracy :The God That Failed.( p.283)
[10] Source:
IMF data for 2008 (www.imf.org)
[11] US Declaration of Independece, 1779
[12] Historical
Effective Tax Rates, 1979-1997., Congressional Budget Office, 2001, p. 5
[13] Draft Charter of the Fundamental
Human rights in European Union
[14]
Constitution of Germany
[15] Raphael
Cohen-Almagor (1997) Disqualification of political parties in Israel: 1988-1996
[16]
Yahia H. Zoubir .American
Journal Of Islamic Social Science : Democarcy and Islam in Malek Bennabi`s
Thought (p. 109-111)
