THE MODERNIZATION OF SOCIETY AND TRANSFER OF POWER IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES
Abstract
Power and its transfer is a key issue in Islam and is related to the traditional and basic values of national and religious identity, as well as to reform and democracy in contemporary Muslim societies.
The transfer to new democratic methods and forms of rule in traditional societies, as most Muslim countries still are, is usually a slow and arduous process. In such societies, the people’s traditional mindset and mentality, particularly among those who lead a settled way of life, transform at a slower pace than in Western countries. But there is no doubt that in the globalizing world this process is gaining momentum and becoming an irreversible political phenomenon.
At present, several new trends are emerging that determine the degree to which the region is being drawn into globalization. But, regardless of the level of these transformation processes, the influence of the spiritual component, which largely relates to the people’s religious views, remains the same. Islam extensively shapes the culture, customs, traditions, lifestyle, and, most important, the centuries-long practice of self-government among the region’s residents. Today its significance is growing and this is having an impact on the forms and other aspects of the democratization process, as well as on the establishment and expansion of civil society institutions. This is being promoted, among other things, by the crease in nongovernmental noncommercial organizations, including religious charity associations. Not only is the cultural-historical mindset changing, but a new type of political thinking is also forming under the influence of the Islamic customs and morals passed down from generation to generation, which is making it possible to create the foundations of a civil society.
The ways in which power is being transferred at present in Muslim countries, including in the Middle East, usually become a set pattern and can be improvised by the elites, including in he Central Asian states. The aim is to make a smooth transfer to more contemporary forms of government while retaining the traditional foundations and succession of power. So it seems expedient to examine this question using the example of the Middle Eastern Arab states since their sociopolitical relations are the closest to those currently practiced in Central Asia.
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References
See: I.L. Fadeeva, Kontseptsiia vlasti na Blizhnem Vostoke. Srednevekovie i novoe vremia, 2nd ed., RAS Ori-ental Literature, Moscow, 2001, p. 40.
Muslims understand the Golden Age of Islam as the time the Prophet Muhammad was active and the theocratic formation of the first Muslim state under the four righteous caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) (622-661).
Admittedly, the rule of his first four successors is also often related to this same age.
See: I.L. Fadeeva, op. cit., p. 46.
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Some Western authors call this style of rule a “dictatorship” (see: D.A. Rustow, Middle Eastern Political Systems,The City University of New York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1971, pp. 72-73).
See: D.A. Rustow, op. cit., pp. 47-49.
Researchers point out that there were around 30 military coups in the Arab countries between 1952 and 1986.
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Ibidem.
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See: C.R. Wickham, “From the Periphery to the Center. The Islamic Trend in Egypt’s Professional Associations,”in: Mobilizing Islam. Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt, Columbia University Press, New York, 2002,pp. 176-183.
Founded in 1928 by school teacher Hassan al-Banna in Ismailia (Egypt).
See: D.J. Sullivan and A.-K. Sana, Islam in Contemporary Egypt. Civil Society vs. the State, Boulder, Lynne Ri-enner Publishers, London, 1999, p. 22.
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See: M.K. Al Sayyid, “A Civil Society in Egypt,” in: Civil Society in the Middle East?, ed. by A.R. Norton, Vol. 1,E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1995, 300 pp.
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See: “Egyptian-American Human Rights Activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim Receiving Second Trial for Receiving Un-authorized Foreign Donations and Embezzling,” High Beam Research, 20 May, 2002, available at [http://www.highbeam.
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See: S.P. Ben-Néfissa, op. cit.
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