Panel agrees democratisation should be holistic

Dubai: Democratic reform should be implemented in the Arab world in a holistic way rather than selectively, a panel in a session discussing flaws in Arab knowledge agreed on Wednesday.

The session, part of the Arab Strategy Forum 2009, saw as participants Saudi intellectual and writer Turki Al Hamad, Kuwaiti minister of higher education Modi Al Hamoud, professor of philosophy at King Mohammad V University in Morocco, Dr Kamal Abdul Latif, and UAE businessman Khalid Bin Zayed.

"We need to see democracy in a wider context," said Modi. "Democratic reform does not only entail political democracy but even democratic societies. Democracy is a way of life."

The moderator of the session and CEO of the Arab Strategy Forum, Dr Sulaiman Al Hattlan, asked if Arab states felt pressured by the democratic experiences of others in the region and their models of governance, such as those of Kuwait and Iraq.

Al Hamad responded that democratisation was a trial-and-error process and could not be perfected immediately.

"If democracy is enforced, it won't necessarily fail but it will lose its way," he said.

He stressed the need to set an infrastructure for democracy as a first step.

Abdul Latif warned of the dangers of emulating other systems of governance. "We need to innovate, not copy. Modernity does not accept emulation," he said.

He added that no society could modernise without institutions with laws and regulations that could keep them in check.

"It is our historic duty to set up institutions," he said.

Bin Zayed added that there was a need for wise governance in the Arab world and an expansion of citizen participation, but he agreed that democratisation was a lengthy process.