The End of Democracy [Paperback]

...a devastating critique of the champions of democracy’s assault on the core principles of democracy." -- Salam Elmanyawi, President Muslim Council of Montreal

“...persuasive and conclusive..” -- Media Monitors Net, USA

“A thought-provoking work that points towards solution for the problems caused by the failure of secular democracy...” -- Ayub Azhar Hamid, National Director, Canadian Islamic Congress

“Francis Fukuyama was very arrogant when he wrote it was the end of history .. that assertion is very well challenged by Abid Ullah Jan." -- Dr. Israr Ahmed

“truly pointing out ... the mockery of democracy by the guardians of democracy. When the opinion of the masses is ignored, revolutions come..." -- Baluchistan Post

Following the end of the Cold War in which liberal democracy triumphed over Communism, Francis Fukuyama claimed it was "the end of history." In this devastating critique of democracy, Abid Ullah Jan (author of 'A War On Islam?') claims that far from being the end of history, the unprovoked attack on Iraq, despite massive global opposition and lack of support from a majority of nations in the United Nations, it is in fact "the end of democracy."

Democracy has failed and it has been used and abused, particularly following 9/11. Democracy has been undermined by a minority ruling elite to curtail civil liberties and mislead the public at home, whilst waging wars of domination abroad. The author argues that since the positive aspects of democracy are part of Islam, thereby undermining the case that Islam is incompatible with democracy, it will be Islam that will ultimately challenge and triumph over liberal democracy as we know it.

Human beings have been subject to centuries of failed governing mechanisms, such as empires, monarchies and dictatorships. In the twentieth century, Fascism and Communism wrought havoc and caused bloody wars and repression on a monumental scale.

The dawn of the 21st century has led into a new age of wars. This time – for the establishment of so-called democracy and freedom. Many proponents of democracy believe only in brute force and a constant need for pre-emptive wars for "liberating" others and imposing "democratic" models for others to emulate. This approach has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people so far.

Has democracy really achieved what is needed for human governance or have some of its finer principles been exploited to make contemporary democracy worse than the bloody ideologies of the past? This book provides answers to these questions and takes readers through the basic requirements of human nature and the kind of governing system for addressing the so far ignored human needs for a peaceful coexistence.

The book shows how exploitation of democracy leads to the continuation of a culture of violence, descended from the dictatorial attempts to fully dominate people as subjects; and how it operates to rely on a philosophy completely at odds with human nature and its quest for justice. The book looks into a system that best addresses all human needs and weaknesses.

In reading this book, one will come to recognize the sources, the features and the methods of contemporary governance systems, which have brought great suffering upon humankind in the name of freedom and liberty. The reader will also learn how imperfect governance mechanisms can be avoided, as they continue to shed blood, suppress more and more people, and prepare to spill still more blood, and how the world can be freed from the ideology of savagery with some fine tuning for real tolerance. A few required plug-ins in contemporary democracy, may lead to develop a perfect governing mechanism and reach the real end of history.

It is not easy to challenge the most dominent ideology of the time - an ideology backed up by the wupreme power of the timel an idea promoted at the cost of taking lives of thousands of civilians and inspite of protests throught the world. While Bush and Blair are on the killing spree to impose their brand of democracy in the world, Abid Ullah Jan tightly argues that we are witnessing the end of democracy and the beginning of the ultimate dark age.

The idea of this book stuck me after the Boston Review published Islam and the Challenge of Democracy. For quite some time, title of my manuscript remained Democracy and the challenge of Islam. However, finally the more I worked on the theme the more I realised that democracy as we witness today will not stay around for long. Whatever replaces it will definitely be beteer than democracy at its best but may not be called as democracy as such. The solution is there. All we need is to shift focus and try to understand the alternative to the moribund democracy.

Encouraged by the events of September 11, 2001and the US preparation for invading and occupying Afghanistan, Francis Fukuyama declared in an article in the Wall Street Journal on October5, 2001, that his “end of history” thesis remains valid twelve years after he first presented it in 1989.1 Fukuyama’s core argument was that after the defeat of Communism and National Socialism, no serious ideological competitor to Western-style liberal democracy was likely to emerge in the future. Thus, in terms of political philosophy, liberal democracy is the end of the evolutionary process.

There is nothing beyond liberal democracy “towards which we could expect to evolve.” People ought to completely forget their past and start afresh.2 It means to say that the history belonging to non-liberal democracy has ended.

It implies that no society can survive without practicing liberal democracy. Ignoring former civilizations and defeating the stability and continuity of cultural eritage is part of the philosophy of America-centrism. Fukuyama concludes by stating that there will be challenges from those who resist progress, “but time and resources are on the side of modernity.”

But are the principles of democracy and practices of its proponents on the side of liberal democracy? No doubt, Fukuyama is very likely right that the current crisis will be overcome, and that, in the near future, there will be no serious ideological challenge. Nevertheless, there already are alternative ideologies to liberal democracy within and outside the West that for decades have been steadily, and almost imperceptibly, evolving. The question is not whether democracy, crippled by its own principles and practitioners, will survive in its present form. It is rather: what will ultimately prevail?

The most unfortunate development is that no one talks about liberal or secular democracy anymore. It is a given that democracy will be secular and Islam is opposed to democracy. Boston Review ran a series “Islam and the Challenge of Democracy” to show incompatibility of Islam and democracy. Furthermore, the recent statement by Owen Bennett-Jones — “the majority believe Pakistan should be a modern Islamic State in which Islamic and democratic values live side by side” — in his September 8, 2003 report to BBC, is indicative of the prevailing mindset that has wholeheartedly accepted the idea that Islam does not recognize democratic values and that democracy and Islam are poles asunder.

The reason is simple. Today the US and its allies are out to convert Muslims in particular, to a pseudo form of democracy that betrays the principles and values of real democracy. Tomorrow, however, it will be the other way around. This work explains how. The latest adventures in the name of regime changes for democracy is simply hastening the inevitable change that will not only transform the Muslim world but will also change the face of the Western world as we see it today.

The facts are all around us, the rot is visible, the solution is available; we only need to change lenses to see where we are heading and how to avoid the collateral damage by graciously accepting the inevitable.

Without going into establishing ownership of terminologies, such as State, sovereignty, system, etc., the most appropriate governance mechanism has to replace the most applauded, but the least properly applied, governance system, called democracy, because man’s quest for justice has not been completed yet and the failure to find it has become the most persistent and tragic theme of human history. For justice, an ideal deeply cherished, ardently desired and ceaselessly pursued by mankind from the very first day of its existence on this planet, can never be truly conceptualized nor practiced unless it is rooted in the values and principles specifically structured to address human frailties. This work explains how this process of reducing the gap between the ideals and practice could be effectively reduced.

Being rooted in human imperfections, all governing mechanisms have failed to provide justice to everyone because their sources of knowledge and modes of determination, whether scientific enquiry, pure reason or empiricism, suffer from one deficiency or another.

At the dawn of 21st century all experiments for human governance are before our eyes. History has proved and impartial researchers have realized impracticability of the system put into practice so far. It is not only democracy that is facing a challenge, but also its challengers who have to show that the alternative is practicable.

Abid Ullah Jan is a political analyst and development specialist. He studied Chemistry and graduated from the University of London with specialization in Environmental Management. Since the late 1980s, he has published many books and articles on political, resource and community development issues. He has written many important works disclosing the forgery of the fake champions of democracy, human rights and justice, the invalidity of their claims and their dark alliances with the most repressive dictators in the world. As a direct victim of a repressive regime, his books include 'A War on Islam?', which explores the forces that are running the so-called war on terrorism and the bloody occupations in the name of freedom and democracy.