Dossiers Archive | Page 19 of 20

Dossiers

Today, the compromises that once allowed democracy to coexist with a well-regulated capitalism no longer seem to work. On the contrary, politics is becoming increasingly incapable of offering effective responses to the dissatisfaction and marginalization felt by large segments of the population — the old middle class, precarious and underpaid workers — while capitalist developments, beginning with the new digital economy, are deepening inequality, concentrating wealth and power to a remarkable degree, and showing signs of a retreat from territorial roots. This process of patrimonialization and neo-feudalization combines with autocratic tendencies in political power. The phenomenon is particularly evident in the United States, but it is far from unknown elsewhere, in countries both small (such as Hungary) and large (such as Russia). How should we rethink the relationship between capitalism and democracy? Can liberal democracy survive in an age of stagnation and widening inequality? What held the welfare state and the free market together in the postwar years—was it a unique historical interlude or a model that can be replicated? Has globalization now made the mechanisms of financial capitalism incompatible with national democratic processes? Are liberal elites to blame for failing to manage the economic transformations—globalization, offshoring, automation—that have fueled populism and authoritarianism? And is it still possible to correct course within the existing system, or does the moment demand a radical reconfiguration—and if so, how?

Confucius’ democracy
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The democratization of China will not necessarily involve the adoption of the Western model. On the contrary, it is by looking within itself, and going back to its Confucian roots, that the Asian giant could slowly open itself up to democracy. So says Daniel A. Bell in his latest book Beyond Liberal Democracy. The traditional values of Asia are founded upon communitarianism, social order, respect for elders and a paternalistic state – but is this definition still valid? As China opens itself up to the values of the West, the West seems to look down with a sense of superiority on Asian values. And yet Benjamin Franklin, almost 300 years ago…
Turkey, why Europe is wrong
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The media of the old continent have accentuated the political battle which has recently prevented the Islamic moderate Abdullah Gul from becoming president of the Republic: an event which has reignited the anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic polemic. “There is no risk whatsoever of theocracy”, assures the philosopher Seyla Benhabib, who says to be interested in the experiment of Gul and Erdogan’s party. Turkish politics is already ever more European, and the same laics, as sociologist Nilüfer Göle explains, have knocked down the wall of incomprehension which separated them from the clergymen. So, the only wall left is the one which Europe is putting up. The doors of the EU remain closed.
New media for a New Arab World
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Politics may continue to slam the door in their faces and to suppress all dissent, but, to the citizens of the Arab world, the emergence of new media today offers an extraordinary opportunity. Satellite TV, on-line journals, blogs and Youtube are giving a new voice to Arab ‘subjects’, who escape with increasing frequency the control of regimes. A part of the credit must be attributed to the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera, which has for years been challenging the ‘single thought’ of governments, and which is changing the very nature of journalism in the Arab world. The agendas of the media have been shaken, opening up unexpected spaces for all – for Islamic opposition, but also for secularists and reformists.
The New Germans
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The Second session of the German Conference on Islam concluded with a controversial balance. No concrete results, but an undoubted symbolic success. It’s some time now that Germany has quit considering immigrants as simple Gastarbeiter, guest workers. New Germans of Turkish origins are in the Bundestag or at the top of major political parties, and they often play the main characters in German movies and TV fictional stories. Surely some problems remain if one Turkish-German out of two still searches for his wife abroad, and if every generation is still a first-generation – as the NYT Magazine wrote. But the new course has started and Germany shows to be seriously taking into account the challenge of integration.
Ayaan or Tariq?
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Over the past few months a heated debate, spread across the pages of the international press and of the website Signandsight.com, has raised the following question: Should the West support moderate yet controversial Muslims such as Tariq Ramadan, the popular grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brothers, or Islamic dissidents such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who for years has spoken out against crimes committed on women in the name of Islam, and who wrote the screenplay of Theo Van Gogh’s provocative film Submission? The two intellectuals know and cannot stand each other. And yet today, while the Italian right once again attacks Ramadan, who is still banned from the U.S., the ex-Somalian refugee here defends his right to freedom of speech, even if she claims to be completely opposed to his thinking.
Algeria, les jeux sont faits?
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Algeria prepares for the election of the National Popular Assembly, voting coming about a month after the attack – claimed by "Al Qaeda for the Islamic Maghreb" – which killed 33 people in the capital. While intelligence services warn that the likelihood of a new attack is far from remote, political parties are wearily preparing themselves for the elections. Algerians remember those of 1991, won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and for this reason too, no surprises are expected. High levels of abstention are likely, which can be interpreted as a protest against the National Front of Liberation’s (FNL) hegemony, and a monopoly that is set to be confirmed in an ever more dull and monotonous democracy.
Mubarak Forever?
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On the 26th March, the reform of the Egyptian Constitution was approved by popular referendum, in which only 27% of those eligible voted (5% according to the human rights groups). Socialism is cast to one side, and the regime becomes even more authoritarian: religious parties are banned, judicial supervision of elections is eliminated, and legislation brought in for a state of emergency become permanent. President Mubarak strengthens his rule, and the possibility of the ‘monarchical’ succession to power of his son Gamal looms ever closer. In the meantime, as the American scholar Robert S. Leiken explains in an interview, the international community considers with growing interest the increasing influence of moderates within the Muslim Brotherhood, the only real force of opposition to the regime.
The French Mosaic
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France will go to the polls to elect the new President of the Republic, and it will be interesting to see how multicultural France votes. After the autumn of 2005 and the banlieue riots, and following the controversy over the threat of anti-semitism, which way will the country’s major religious communities go? The republican model of integration itself is being called into question, and whilst other European countries look on with increasing interest, there have also been strong criticisms, as was seen in the debate concerning the wearing of the Islamic veil in schools. How will the direction of French foreign policy change? And is it true that France will reject its current pro-Arab orientation should Nicolas Sarkozy and the center-right triumph?
Women, Between Veil and Capitalism
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According to the latest UN report on human development, women in Arab countries still have great difficulties in gaining access to education, health, politics, work and rights. Unemployment, Aids and domestic violence are problems which remain unresolved. However, it is not because of Islam that women rights are not respected in the Muslim world, as the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum says to us in an interview. In the Arab-speaking region, businesses led by female entrepreneurs have a larger number of employees, attract more foreign investors and export more than those led by male entrepreneurs. Is it through women that the Arab renaissance will develop?
Iran and the Paths to War
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War has not yet been waged, but both Iran and the United States are doing their best not to avoid it. The Iranian leadership continues to pursue its nuclear programme, heedless of UN concerns. The Bush administration partakes in dangerous "provocations" (Gary Sick) on Iraqi soil, and does not exclude military intervention. Between the two lies Europe. The paths to war are infinite and implicate the role of Western intellectuals, who unwittingly risk strenghtening the current regime at a time when President Ahmadinejad is at ist lowest point and there are rumours of divisions amongst Tehran’s top ranks.