Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
If we go back to the history of social or political revolutions, we cannot see a movement that is believed to be a “human rights” movement in any of the meanings of this phrase as we understand it in the present era. Perhaps there were among them the so-called democracy movements in Greece, in which the use of the word democracy was interpreted as a movement of peoples and human rights, but it is not so even in its verbal connotations. As Professor Al-Akkad says: “The democratic system in Greece was called the government in which the tribes participated in the election, and its participation in the election was not a recognition of a human right in which individual people are equal, but rather a recognition of the tribe and to prevent its opposition to work in the army.
The Greeks and the Romans had successive types of democratic governments that did not have a principle on which to base them other than that it had practical plans to ward off sedition and attract loyalty from the conscripts to the army and fleet from among the tribesmen and the owners of industries. We will consider that the first generation of democracy. As for the human and electoral rights that arose in Western democracy in the mid-twentieth century, they gradually generalized according to the needs of the electorate. Workers in industrialized countries obtained them before the farmers acquired them, and women obtained them after they became workers in factories on behalf of soldiers in the war, and people of color obtained them. In the United States, after the state was forced to serve their services in society and in the armies gradually in the two world wars, and different peoples gained them as a result of mutual pressures and conflicts between classes to reach a specific political formula acceptable to all parties. We will consider that the second generation of democracy. As for human rights that are recognized in principle and not practical plans dictated by equality of power between sects and the masses of voters, they are represented by an unimaginable human democracy without the elements of equality, individual responsibility, and rule based on shura and on well-defined constitutions of limits and consequences.. These are the elements that we advocate as principles. In general, it is not a compulsion to an electoral reality or service in the armies, but it represents a real belief in the method of justice in governance in recognition of the rights of citizens, regardless of their educational level or social position, as it is the third generation of democracy. But we notice that as we look at the third generation of Western democracy, and what is applied from it in the countries of the world, especially the developing countries, we find many contradictions between philosophy and reality, and the powers granted to governments force, and sometimes social injustice, to classes of peoples who cannot, with the foundations of their knowledge and capabilities, obtain Real equality of available opportunities, as we claim and say. The more educated, the richest, and the most open to the world, gets the opportunity. The gap between citizens gradually increases, and the human development opportunities that we seek from good governance are often lost. Third generation democracy succeeded in Europe and North America and is now suffering, but it has failed to implement it in developing and poor countries.
To the young man, he replied:
What is the dilemma of applying the rules of political freedom and achieving democracy in Egypt?
I told him: Let me tell you that a fourth generation of democracy is needed to solve the dilemma.
The army of Egypt saved the country from fascist rule under a religious cloak that would have been applied to the necks and minds of the Egyptians. The task of the current government is to establish the sustainability of the path of development for the great Egypt, not depending on an individual but on a sustainable system, and the circulation of power with the free will of the voters, and respect for the balance of power within the Egyptian society, while not allowing the state to hypocrisy and demagoguery for hidden interests at the expense of the vision of the future, or any dictatorship Layer of layers.
We are about diagnosing reality, not offering solutions. Many talked about the balance between powers to prevent the dictatorship of any ruling class, which is what the constitution recognizes, but it does not happen in most or all of the poor developing countries because free elections do not bring in these countries the best elements capable of monitoring the executive authority with knowledge and objectivity without demolition or corruption. We must realize that all human conditions have changed, and the world around us is changing, and we must link the fourth generation of democracy with the changes of the times.
The development we are experiencing was not possible at the time of the start of the third generation of democracy, so something new must be formulated. The democratic model, even in its current application in the West, is subject to review as a result of the information and communication revolution that broke the barriers between the citizen and the decision maker, and provided an opportunity for direct communication between them, perhaps without the need for a mediator such as parties. These things are done directly over the Internet. There is also a decline in the importance of ideology as a framework for gathering citizens in a political or partisan framework. Perhaps the greater interest of the citizen now is focused on the effectiveness of the ruling, i.e. the extent of achievement and responding to the demands of the citizen, regardless of the ideological idea adopted by the regime. But on the other hand, achieving the greatest effectiveness of governance is linked to the most efficient reaching the seats of government through a system that allows this, and is also linked to the importance of having a system of control and accountability for the decision maker, and setting periods for rule limits to ensure innovation in thought and vitality of performance. In short, we see that the new generation of democracy should focus on the following elements:
The effectiveness of judgment
The competence of the rulers
Oversight and accountability independent of the executive branch
An independent and effective justice system (the real revolution must take place here in this field)
An education and culture system that gives citizens the opportunity to choose the best
We are looking for a new initiative to govern, in agreement between what we dream of of a modern civil state and the real power on the ground, an initiative that does not deprive the country of its human potential or its effective national institutions, an initiative that gives freedom its place and respect it by controlling the swift justice that does not allow freedom to be transformed
Not to chaos, nor to selective manipulation of the law. An initiative that allows the people to freely choose and make good choices for a balanced parliamentary system.
The Egyptian armed forces are in control now, and they should not be placed politically before the responsibility of challenging development, and lose their reference value in case of departure from the constitution and legitimacy, or destructive revolutions, if the people summon them. The armed forces should not become responsible to the people for the political situation. We must preserve its role in preserving Egypt’s independence against any aggression, and on protecting the people and the constitution when needed.
Therefore, a new formula must be found that respects the balance of power, but does not waste the rules of the civil state, and this is what all stakeholders in society should strive for. And writing around it without sensitivity or fear, and God help.
