The Power of Election
Joshua Foust on Mar 04 2008 at 10:35 am | Filed under: Foreign affairs
Posted first to Registan.net
Joshua White has a op-ed in WSJ-Asia about the recent elections in Pakistan, and he lends further credence to the undeniable fact that elections have power:
The key to dealing with the religious parties is to continue their integration into the mainstream political process. The good news here is that “democratic Islamists” like the MMA were never quite as dangerous as prophesied. Faced with the stark realities of governance, they watered down their Shariah agenda, crafted a development program that bent to the wishes of international donors, and began more forcefully to disassociate themselves from militancy. One of the governing parties, Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (JUI) moderated so significantly during its five-year tenure that it found itself both criticized from the left for its illiberal Islamism, and out-flanked on the right by the politically rejectionist neo-Taliban.
The trick, then, will be to continue that moderating process even now that such parties are out of power. Close observers of Northwest Frontier politics had for this reason been quietly hoping that JUI would join the new governing coalition as a minor player. Although for now JUI has announced that it won’t, that could change in the coming days. Its core leadership is already deeply invested in traditional politics, but it is the party’s fringe — scores of young madrassa graduates and disaffected clerics — that needs to be kept engaged. They are the ones who, critically, sit on the blurred boundary between formal politics and militancy.
It is in the interests of Pakistan and the U.S. to see these pragmatic mullahs continue to be co-opted into the formal political process. This means deepening interaction with JUI-affiliated madrassa leaders without appearing to dictate a Western agenda for religious education. And it means selectively engaging the religious parties as interlocutors — flawed as they are — to the militants in the tribal areas.
No one should have any illusions: Islamist discourse and strict Shariah are corrupting to liberal democracy in Pakistan. But the democratic Islamists are not a monolith. They adapt, they compromise, and they absorb a vast pool of young activists who might otherwise turn toward violence. Left alone on the margins, they may more readily adopt a vigorous politics of agitation, protesting progressive social policies and state action against hardline clerics.
Of course, don’t expect any such accommodation from John McCain, who labors under the illusion that Musharraf somehow restored Pakistan to stability after it was supposedly a “failed state”… apparently because they continued electing new governments until Musharraf seized power in a military coup. But don’t think Obama is any better—his genius idea to bomb the NWFP, which is precisely where the Islamists lost their power base in the elections, is doomed to turn the country against us as well.
Indeed, none of the candidates seem to offer much understanding of the dynamics at play inside Pakistan. Which is too bad, since those dynamics have an impact on how many militants stream across the border to harass and destabilize reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Then again, perhaps even mentioning the original war on terror, at all, ever, would be a good start for these hucksters shilling for office.
Sphere: Related Content2 Responses to “The Power of Election”
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I agree with your premise of the effect of elections on Islamist parties (dividing pragmatists vs. extremist factions further), but what’s you’re response to those who hold the situation of Gaza where the religious extremists got into power as the counter-example?
Of course, places like Pakistan had some semblance of democracy for opposition parties to actually wield power, it will be difficult in places like Egypt, Jordan, etc. since everyone believes that any elections will either be shams or powers given to winners will be superficial with guys like Mubarak still holding the real power…
:(
Frank, you make a good point. I don’t mean to argue that elections are a magical panacea everywhere, just that allowing them to take place in Pakistan goes a long way toward specifically addressing the “Pakistan Problem.”