A Fancy Way Of Saying: “Muslims Can’t Do Democracy”

Timur Kuran:

Until the establishment of colonial regimes in the late 19th century, Arab societies were ruled under Shariah law, which essentially precludes autonomous and self-governing private organizations. Thus, while Western Europe was making its tortuous transition from arbitrary rule by monarchs to democratic rule of law, the Middle East retained authoritarian political structures. Such a political environment prevented democratic institutions from taking root and ultimately facilitated the rise of modern Arab dictatorships.

Strikingly, Shariah lacks the concept of the corporation, a perpetual and self-governing organization that can be used either for profit-making purposes or to provide social services.

It might sound from the title of this post that I’m making fun of his argument. I’m not. Some of his points are very valid, but it appears to me that Mr. Kuran is putting way too much emphasis on the importance of history and tradition. Perhaps our own “torturous transition” could be fast-tracked by the fact that we live in a more open world where we all saw on TV the process of electing a black man to the world’s most important position of power.