Q3: Can Democracy be forced on middle east? Could it work there?

Bernard Lewis Responds: Depends what you mean by Democratic. The idea that these people are incapable of Democratic or decent government, they always been ruled by tyrants and that is all they know and that’s all it works. I think that is false reading of Islamic & Arabic history and is a false evaluation of present situation. It’s important to understand why things got to where they are now? And then we consider what to do about it.

The traditional middle eastern order was not democratic in the sense of Anglo American democratic system. But it was certainly not dictatorial. When the French asked their ambassador to Ottoman empire in Istanbul why its taking him so long to finalize an ongoing negotiation, he replied “Here it’s not like in France where the king is the soul master who decides everything and does what he pleases. Here the Sultan has to consult with the holders of the office, he even has to consult with retired holders of the office”.

Now that is true. The traditional Islamic system of government relies very heavily on consultation. It’s in the Quraan and exercised by the prophet himself and to a large extent it worked. One consulted with established groups, the landed gentry, the jurists … etc. The important thing about these groups is that they were independent, their leadership was chosen from within (not imposed from above) and it worked pretty well.

The tragedy of the middle east is the nineteenth and twentieth century reforms. These reforms were not done by western imperialists but by middle eastern rulers in Turkey, Egypt and Iran particularly with the best of intensions to modernize. But by modernizing they destroyed the old consultative system and introduced something that never existed before, namely ruthless total dictatorship. That is the legacy of modernization.

Coming back to the question, is there any possibility of democracy? Yes, I think so. There are these old traditions of consultation which is very central in the Islamic traditional government and one sees sings of it in the present time. But two things one must avoid, one is to rush things cause if you go too fast the bad guys will win the election. Also, respect the local traditions and local organizations.

“Radical Islam, Israel and West”

Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

YouTube, minutes 1:16:49 to 1:22:32.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KePJz28_GY