The Arab Democracy Deficit: The New Orientalism

The charge is often levied against us in the Gulf that we are backward and suffer from a democracy deficit. This is the new Orientalism. No more is the Arab a wandering vagrant selling Indian spices along the silk road a la ‘A Thousand and One Nights’. Now he is a democrat yearning for freedom but oppressed by a sword held to the neck (or in less flattering contexts; a terrorist). I will resign from the outset that the Gulf is imperfect, but in this post I will contend that the Gulf is no less imperfect than its democratic co-habitants on this Earth.

It is no secret that Freedom House does not look favourably on democracy levels in the Gulf States. If one were to rely on their reports alone one would be excused for believing in the New Orientalism. Take Iran and the United Arab Emirates for example. Both are ranked 17 in the Freedom House Index- ‘Not Free’. Yet citizens in the UAE enjoy free K-12 education, free (or subsidized) higher education, free healthcare, free (or subsidized) housing, subsidized utilities, subsidized fuel, subsidized food and beverages, a basic standard of living, not to mention employment opportunities in the public and private sectors. Iran on the other hand has a shortage of almost every product in the world, suffers from hyperinflation, a stagnant economy, and keeps the population in check using well-documented overtly coercive tactics. Does this sound like a fair comparison? Does Iran offer the same quality of life to its citizens as the Gulf States? Why then are we viewed in relatively similar terms by watchdogs like freedom house? Something is certainly a miss.

No, we in the Gulf do not elect our heads of state/government. The Iranians do, but they have a dictatorial Supreme Leader fanatically keeping them in check under a misguided guise of religion.

In contrast, Gulf citizens like myself entrust within our rulers a level of patriarchal importance. This is because our societies are not modelled in the Western sense. We are not individualistic societies nor are we secular liberal societies. We are collectivist, tribal societies. As such, we have chosen the model that suits us. After all, we have only recently adopted Westphalian sovereignty. Before that, sovereignty rested not with the state, but in the personhood of the ruler. Indeed, the messy domestic borders within the UAE are a result of this. The British asked people to whom they owed their allegiance, and the resulting allegiances drew the borders of the seven Emirates. This is in stark contrast to the straight edged borders between states like New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.

Our traditional, collectivist, values are not compatible with the individualism represented by the Kantian Enlightenment (yet). As such I do not think a Western Style democracy would be the best thing to exist in the Gulf (see Iraq). Look at all the democracies modelled after the West in the region. Are any of them particularly successful states? There is work to be done, for sure, but so far this is what we’ve got and we’re all the better for it. Trust in Monarchism- at least for now- works for the Arabs.

But this is not a blind trust. The ruling tribe knows that we have entrusted them with our livelihoods. They are acutely aware of the magnitude of this trust. Thus, they are expected to work tirelessly in our interest. Therefore, these benefits which I have outlined above are provided to us tax-free (discounting a recently promulgated negligible 5% VAT on luxury goods due to our over-reliance on oil). This is the social contract we have. The state is run like a fortune 500 company and we are its shareholders, and the dividends have spared many of us the plight of the 21st century millennial.

I am not writing this to sing the praises of the Gulf. The Gulf, like the rest of the world is imperfect. It is just less imperfect than a great many other places. I personally hold some views that I will not get into in this post that might contradict the status quo. These are things I will save for future blog posts on this platform. After all, what is Political Foundations if not an organization that aims to spur reform? Irrespective of my views, I and many others like me continue to lead lives of comfort and ease in the Gulf. Gulf citizens live in cities that are safe, secure, modern, and prosperous. They have the freedom to pursue the lives they want to live. We can disagree amongst ourselves about what civil liberties we should and should not have, what things should and should not be derived from Islamic law, and we have institutions that can attempt to enact these changes. Why then should we be damagingly compared with the likes of Iran, North Korea, among others in their contempt for human rights? Are the watchdogs and observers really that narrow minded to see us and overtly Orwellian states as North Korea as virtually one and the same?

I contend that democracy does not necessarily lead to enhanced human rights. That is an aspect of statecraft that is accessible to politicians irrespective of their mode of government. Yes democracy, does usually increase the pressure on politicians to act in the popular interest, but that is not always the case. Corruption can and does erode democratic institutions. Burma’s recently deposed democratic government, for example, was presided over by Her Excellency Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and yet it is that same government that is accused of causing a racially-charged refugee crisis.

I believe that each country is different. Each population is different. Thus, the most effective means to govern diverse people will necessarily be different. There is no panacea nor a one size fits all glove. The Arabs in particular know this, as we have bitterly noted the results of regime change in the name of democracy. As people’s thoughts and dispositions evolve over time, so too will their optimal or perhaps preferred manner of governance. Reform, evolution, and development takes time. To put it metaphorically, Rome was not built in a day, so why do we expect the Arabs to rebuild the House of Wisdom in a day?

I end this blog with a humble request: let us developing countries develop at our own pace, and if our development leads us to a different place know that development can be multi-faceted. Our end result can and will differ from a Eurocentric version of development. Simply because it is this way in Europe does not mean it must be this way everywhere else. The Arabs might envision for themselves a future that is different than that which exists in Europe, and it is within our right to do so. We are an independent people with independent minds and we have the right to determine our own fates irrespective of the winds of democracy and the whims of Europe.