THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 126, June 8, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ISLAMISTS ARE INTRINSICALLY ANTI-DEMOCRATIC
By Michael Rubin
ISLAMISM & CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY: WHY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S COURTING OF ISLAMIST
GROUPS IN THE MUSLIM COUNTRIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST WILL NOT HELP BRING CONSTITUTIONALISM & THE DEMOCRATIC
POLITICAL PROCESS TO THOSE COUNTRIES
FULL STORY:
President George W. Bush has placed democratization at the center of his Middle East policy. At his inauguration, he declared:
"Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees
you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country."
Bush is sincere, confronting not only adversaries like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but also pro-American dictators like
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Bush can claim success: 2005 is the year of the election. Iraqis defied predictions to cast their ballots. Palestinians also embraced the
vote, electing Mahmoud Abbas to replace the late Yasser Arafat.
Elections alone do not make constitutional democracy, though. Washington should be cynical about Mubarak's commitment to
constitutional democracy. Even though 83 percent of his electorate voted for multiparty elections in a May 25, 2005, referendum,
Mubarak's government still determines who can run in elections. In October, 2004, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali won
94.5 percent of the vote, after curtailing his opponents' campaign. The Saudi Kingdom has trumpeted its municipal elections, but the
resulting councils have had neither budgetary nor legislative authority.
While the U.S. White House has treated these autocrats' commitments with skepticism, the Bush administration refuses to extend the
same cynicism to Islamist groups, many of which embrace elections, but cast aside constitutional democratic values. In 1992, for
example, Ali Balhadj, a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria declared:
"When we are in power, there will be no more elections because God will be ruling."
In March 2004, influential Karbala cleric Sayyid Hadi al-Modarresi told Al-Hayat,
"The first article in a democracy is the rule of the majority over the minority."
In recent months, the Bush administration has sent mixed signals to Islamist groups in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt.
Bush has held out an olive branch to Hizballah, a group funded and armed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Syrian intelligence.
While the party does hold seats in the Lebanese Parliament, it maintains its own private army and embraces violence. Hizballah's
March 8, 2005, rally in Beirut in favor of the Syrian occupation made a mockery of its claim to be an anti-occupation resistance
movement.
The White House has also flip-flopped on Hamas. While Hamas candidates came in second to those of Fatah in Palestinian elections,
it, nonetheless, won the largest municipalities in Gaza. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called Hamas' successful candidates
"business professionals." But election participation does not make candidates democratic. Hamas ran on a platform rejecting the
compromises necessary for Palestinian statehood. Its charter embraced imposition of Islamic rule, with the Koran as its
constitution, and it has eschewed rule-of-law. Well-known for its attacks on Israelis, it has also targeted constitutional democratic
Palestinians.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, another recipient of recent U.S. State Department outreach, also has a long legacy of violence. Its
armed wing has murdered thousands. Engaging any group that has been involved in terror only legitimizes the violence that propelled
that group to prominence. Better that Washington support bold, but peaceful, politicians like Ayman Nour.
Washington's infatuation with Islamists has emboldened such groups and deflated the morale of constitutional democrats. Condoleezza
Rice bolstered the legitimacy of the Iranian-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq when she invited its leader to the
White House. This invitation signaled that the Bush administration endorsed the Islamist group over more constitutionalist and
democratic movements, and suggested to the Supreme Council that an ephemeral embrace of democracy was sufficient. Today, gangs
belonging to the Supreme Council enforce Islamic law on cities like Basra and Kut, breaking up student picnics and tearing down posters
championing other groups. More recently, many Iraqis interpreted the April, 2005, appointment of National Endowment for Democracy
official Laith Kubba as Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's spokesman to be an American endorsement for his Islamist platform.
The Arab world is capable of constitutional democracy. When mechanisms for electoral accountability exist, Islamists lose their charm.
In Jordan, for example, the Islamic Action Front lost half its seats between 1989 and 1993, after it failed to fulfill its promises. Unable to
withstand the popular rebuff, the Islamists boycotted the next election.
There is no reason why the Arab world cannot be constitutionalist and democratic. But for constitutional democracy to succeed, all
parties have to embrace not only elections as the path to power, but also regular subservience to the electorate as their master. Because
Islamists base their legitimacy upon a higher power, they are intrinsically anti-democratic and unwilling to accept popular rebuke. One
man, one vote, one time makes dictatorship, not constitutional democracy.
By embracing Islamists in Iran, President Jimmy Carter replaced one dictatorship with another. The Bush administration's flirtation with
Arab Islamists risks doing the same. Washington should push for constitutional democracy, but only work with groups willing to abide
by democratic and constitutionalist precepts.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Middle East & the Arabs
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly.
The foregoing article by Michael Rubin was originally published in Bitterlemons International, June 2, 2005, and can be found
on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
June 6, 2005
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume VII, 2005
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues