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January 18, 2006
Religious democracy is better than secular fascism
Volokh has bit on Egyptian politics. A discussion with a prominent Egyptian blogger suggests that religious democracy (perhaps of the rightless or unlimited variety) is an inevitable stepping stone of countries in the middle east from secular fascism on the secular (mostly anyway), right based, democracies. They seem to see this a sad side effect, a two steps backwards to take 3 steps forward kind of thing.
But I don't buy it.
I agree that limited but democratic government is the political end game for every country, but true democracy in this case beats the mostly secular but undemocratic present. If Egypt could really have a religious, but pseudo-democratic government like that of Iran, they would be better off. Iranians may suffer political and economic repression, but at least they have forums for the peaceful revolution. North Korea, or Egypt for that matter is a profoundly unsafe place for critics of the regime. In Iran, elected officials can far more effectively and safely provide that criticism. In that sense, they are almost like the early role of the English Parliament, except instead of checking the power of a king, they are checking that of religious leaders.
For interesting profiles on the political freedom of various countries, check out the Freedom House survey. For similar measures of economic freedom, take a look at the 2006 index of economic freedom.
Posted by OneEyedMan at January 18, 2006 8:47 AM
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