{الفكر القومي العربي} Arab-cracy and Western Hypocrisy

Arab-cracy and Western Hypocrisy

Professor Abdul Sattar Kassem

July 13, 2013

 

Instead of democracy, Arabcracy is the Arab alternative that has been in effect in several Arab areas. It is the Arab version of appreciating democratic values that the Western countries have been propagating over the years, and means that the Arabs don't accept the results of elections although they are conducted according to democratic standards.

The Algerian army carried out a coup when the Algerian local elections of 1992 gave the Islamists the upper hand or the majority. That resulted in a bloody civil war in which tens of thousands lost their lives. Until now, Algeria hasn't recovered. In the West Bank and Gaza, Fatah, the organization that leads the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, refused to accept the result of the elections of 2006 which was in favor of Hamas. This led to a strife in which 500 Palestinians lost their lives, and the emergence of two separate governments: one in Gaza which is under siege, and another in the West Bank which is under occupation. Now it is Egypt. The Egyptian Army conducted a coup against the elected president without making the necessary calculations of the reaction from the side of Egyptian Islamists.

In Iraq, there are voices that speak against the legitimacy of the Prime Minister who ascended to power through democratic means. This is also true in Tunisia where some people are collecting signatures to oust the elected authorities.

Tribalism and Democracy

The tribal mentality is still prevailing in the Arab countries particularly in the wide and populated areas where awareness of modernity and the necessities of progress are at a low level. However, it isn't abnormal to see highly educated people behaving in a tribal manner, and practicing dictatorship. This is true for most of those educated people who are financed by Western countries to run non-governmental organizations in their countries to educate their people on democracy values.

Tribal mentality is too narrow to accept others, and too self-centered to allow for the domination of local competitors. It doesn't believe in the society at large, and understand common weal and public interest through the good and the interest of the tribe. We the tribe, as it is practiced, above the nation, and if we don't lead, others won't be allowed to do so. Elections are fair only if we win, and policies are great if we are their masters.

Due to the general international mood at this moment of history, Arabs of all walks of life have been verbally appreciating democracy, and calling for the establishment of democratic political systems. Practically, these calls haven't been serious, and it is unfortunate that Arab civil societies have been deeply involved in abusing the democratic process.

The question that always arises: is it possible for democracy to be cultured in a tribal society? Democracy is the outcome of the Western experience over the centuries, and it isn't that easy to be digested overnight in societies with different experiences and cultures.

As a professor of political science, I always thought that systems should develop from within without disregarding the experiences of others. The Arabs need to develop systems that stem basically from their social and religious traditions, otherwise they will experience hard turbulent times

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Western Hypocrisy

Although the Western Countries particularly the US usually appraise democracy as the most sustaining and reasonable political system, they concede principle for expedience. They don't care much about democracy as long as political regimes are within their domain, and they are ready to discard democratic principles if unfavorable parties win the elections. These countries furnish all kinds of support to the tribal Gulf States, but conspire against democratically elected governments in Arabia (the Arab World).