Cred că până la urmă cursul online Constitutional Struggles in the Muslim World a dat mult de furcă, dar a fost destul de ușor și mai ales, o plăcere de ascultat.
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Eseu despre under-performance of the Islamic states
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Comparing
the Islamic countries today with their glorious past, one can easily notice
their under-performance and the relative decline they are going through. That
means the general countries' welfares are performing less than expected, both
in relation with the past, but mostly comparing to the modernized, more
developed West. The under-performance can be observed by looking at various
aspects, such as economy, society and the military development.
With a few
exceptions, the Islamic countries perform poorly from economic point of view,
for example when a high percentage of the country is unemployed and so, the
work force is unused. The ever-growing population of these countries makes it
difficult to keep creating jobs for the young, but also there is a less
participation of women in the job market, either due to family duties, less education
or even discrimination.
From the
social point of view, there are various conflicts and violence between
different ethnicities which live together, or people from different religions,
but also, in more recent years, protests against the administration. For
example, there have been struggles in Lebanon between Sunni, Shia and
Catholics, more recently in Egypt, between Salafi Sunni and Coptic Christians, in
Sudan, between Northern Muslims and Southern Christians, which finally led to
disintegration, etc… Besides internal conflicts, some countries engaged in
wars, either civil or external, such as the case of Iran-Iraq, Egypt-Israel, Pakistan-Bangladesh,
etc. These major conflicts led to loss of lives and decline of welfare, which
took years to recuperate. Finally, the population’s frustration with the
under-performance of these states resulted in protests and revolutions, in
Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, etc. From the social point of view, there is unrest and
general dissatisfaction for most of the Islamic countries, with some
exceptions. The economic and social conditions led to migrations, in search for
workplaces and a better life, of people from Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan and
Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Palestine (as refugees), etc. The very
fragmentation into countries, ethnicities, sects, is all opposite to what we
know from the history of the glorious Islamic Empire.
The
military under-performance stays in the outdated equipments and techniques that
countries engaged in conflicts seem to have. Iraq is known to have very
outdated equipment and Lebanon to have had a small army. Even Egypt was unable
to defeat Israel in the 6 Days War, despite its huge population number as
compared to Israel’s.
One
important factor in the development of many of these Islamic states is the colonization
they underwent at some point. For example, British forces existed in Egypt,
Bangladesh & India, Malaysia, Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia; French forces
in North Africa, Lebanon, Syria; Italian in Libya and Somalia; Dutch in
Indonesia; Jewish in Palestine, etc. The colonization had different pretexts
and purposes, but in the end, the colonized country would have been left with a
shallow direction of what a “right” future might be, and a slight taste of
modernization. Even the independence itself would require a violent war, such
was the case of the Algerian war of liberation.
Politically
and at the institutional level, we find almost failed states, such as the
countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Their current economic situation was directly
influenced by the massive extraction of resources performed by the foreign
colonization, who also withdrew with little implication for adjusting the artificially
created countries’ internal organization. People employed there in
administration have very little experience, resulting in weak institutions and
the rise of the military, to compensate that. In Somalia, islamisation took place
as a reaction from the lack of order and attempts of applying the Sharia law
existed also in Northern Sudan. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, institutions are
also very weak and corrupt, and the political fights affect the people’s welfare
and security.
Islamisation
campaigns were raised almost everywhere in the Islamic world, at some point. One
of the most successful islamisations took place in Iran, where this regime
exists since more than 30 years ago. I believe that islamisation always came as
a solution in the politics of the countries, either as a defense from the
modern Western influence, or simply as not having other alternative (Somalia). However,
the idea that Sharia should be imposed by the state appears to be new in the
history, as Zubaida points out, therefore unnatural.
Many times
it happened that some Islamic countries become a buffer zone between interests
of the super-powers, which is also a factor for their evolution. For example,
Afghanistan was for decades a buffer to separate British and Russian dominated
zones, having advantages from both sides as well as conflicts, applying concepts
from both sides, such as modernization, socialism (communism), but ending up as
a fundamentalist “Islamic Emirate”, as the Talibans first called it. Many
conflicts up to recent times were fueled by the Cold War’s principal actors.
The only parts
of the Islamic world which seem to perform better are the Gulf countries and
the Indonesia, Malaysia region. The Gulf countries built their wealth by
massive exports of oil and have a rentier economy. Politically, they are under
the American “protectorate” and make efforts to bring as much (external)
modernization as possible, while remaining very traditional inside their societies.
There is no social unrest, nor political fights, as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the
others are mostly absolute monarchies. As for the Indonesia and Malaysia, they
are regarded as successful democracies with functional institutions, strong
industries, very educated population. Although both countries are multi-ethnic
and multi-religious, the Islamic is law is applied for the Muslims and local
customs for the rest, thus respecting freedom of religion and giving important
rights to non-indigenous population, unlike the Gulf countries for example.
In
conclusion, the history of the Islamic states was turbulent and marked by political
unsuccessfulness, with few exceptions. It overall under-performed comparing to
our modern expectations and has become a less and less desirable place to live
in. Sadly, although the signs of general dissatisfaction are obvious, people fail
to learn from their own defeats and take self-criticism.
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Eseu despre Iran - modernitate, tradiționalism, emulație, reformă (pripit)
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Modernity represents a phase in the history of humankind with great effect upon all areas of the social organization and human thinking. It is mainly characterized by rapid transformation, pragmatism and materialism and it arouse for the first time in Europe after the Renaissance and the Illumination phases, although at different periods of time for different states. Modernity is most opposed to traditionalism, which was evident in the Middle Ages. Contrary to a traditional society, in a modern one the economy is based on capitalism, high industrial production, and the form of government implies the separation of powers and certain political institutions. A series of new sciences emerge in the modern society, all attempting to describe small fragments of the reality using the means of physical evidence. Therefore the use of experimental sciences is considered and new technologies are born. Another obvious distinction is the secularization that a modern society undergoes, as opposed to the traditional society where religion and rituals are highly esteemed.
In the light of these characteristics, modernity appears completely opposed to traditionalism. However, no country in this world could avoid being affected by the modern influence and the apparent success of the societies which implemented it. It is mostly shocking for the old generations to accept a rapid change in the customs of the society, modifications in social structures or the disregard of religious beliefs. Even for the younger generations, the lifestyle is different, with jobs demanding more and more diverse skills, gender roles becoming almost equal and consequently the great change of the way that families are built, and so on…
Iran, a Middle Eastern country with great history of thousands of years, always sought to express its position in the world, and because the world is economically dominated by the most advanced, inevitably Iran tried to keep up with them and even tried to adopt reforms aimed at modernization.
In the 19th century, a dynasty came into power in Iran: the Qajar. Although this new dynasty brought a series of innovations, such as the first modern university in the country, the century was marked by failed attempts of modernization, such as of army, creation of institutions, etc. In addition, Iran lost a series of wars and territories and the culmination of the so-called misrule was in the great famine where a great percentage of the population perished. The economy stayed underdeveloped, lacking communication means and with people facing financial crisis.
In the 20th century, a new legislature assembly (Majlis) is adopted by Md. Reza Pahlavi, among most remarkable changes being the nationalization of oil and the new Family protection law where women get more rights. There is an attempt of emulating western values with the introduction of new dress codes and elimination of chador, and later in 1963 women receive the right to vote, but also the Hijri calendar is switched back to Cyrus. Reza Shah and his son generally walked on the emulation path but the speed was too high giving the impression of a forced modernization.
The Islamic revolution in 1979 was characterized as populist, nationalist and Shiite. Although marking the emergence of fundamentalism, the revolution was done with modern means, through mass-media, stamps or mural paintings, etc. The new constitution of Iran has strong socialist concepts, developed in the modern era, and follows the structure of the French 5th republic. Even during the Islamic regime, the population could not stay away from modernization.
It is very surprising how the Islamic republic survived for decades. Despite international sanctions especially due to the nuclear program, Iran was able to resist, yet another surprising fact was the fall of illiteracy down to 7% nowadays. Regarding the nuclear, recently Rouhani mentioned that the right of having an economy based on nuclear energy has transformed into a matter of national dignity to have it. Although it has a diverse economy, Iran failed to create jobs for a numerous young population. Women could still not get easy access to certain type of jobs, despite their former education.
Although it belongs to the fundamentalist group, Iran has many modern characteristics, such as up-to-date technology, infrastructure, strong scientifical research groups and also modern problems such as traffic, pollution and so on. Only looking at today’s Iranian youth, we could see their thinking and aspirations is mostly influenced by the West, including the secular ideas.
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INTREG CURSUL IN FORMAT PDF: (( aici ))
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INTREG CURSUL IN FORMAT PDF: (( aici ))
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