did the blog administrator accidentally lose an entry? clicking on the back buttons, i can't find the sy hersh entry from 4/07. just thought somebody should know.
there is a debate going on that argues we (the west) with our colonialist history have no right to impose western ideals like democracy upon MENA. i agree. it's the people in the region who are rising up and calling for democracy, not us.
instead of (or in addition to) arabic translations of jefferson, i'd like to see more discussion that explains the idea of democracy isn't exclusive in its origins to the west.
via wiki:
A possible example of primitive democracy may have been the early Sumerian city-states.[29] A similar proto-democracy or oligarchy existed temporarily among the Medes (ancient Iranian people) in the 6th century BC, but which came to an end after the Achaemenid (Persian) Emperor Darius the Great declared that the best monarchy was better than the best oligarchy or best democracy.[30]
A serious claim for early democratic institutions comes from the independent "republics" of India, sanghas and ganas, which existed as early as the 6th century BC and persisted in some areas until the 4th century AD.[31] The evidence is scattered and no pure historical source exists for that period. In addition, Diodorus (a Greek historian at the time of Alexander the Great's excursion of India), without offering any detail, mentions that independent and democratic states existed in India.[32]
The concepts of liberalism and democratic participation were already present in the medieval Islamic world.[2][3][4] Azizah Y. al-Hibri, for example, argues that Medina during Muhammad's time was an early example of a democratic state but that the development of democracy in the Islamic world eventually came to a halt following to the Sunni–Shia split.[5]
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we couldn't even manage to scrap oil contracts out this
fiasco:
what are we going to do? invade iraq again when we run out of oil?
did the blog administrator accidentally lose an entry? clicking on the back buttons, i can't find the sy hersh entry from 4/07. just thought somebody should know.
there is a debate going on that argues we (the west) with our colonialist history have no right to impose western ideals like democracy upon MENA. i agree. it's the people in the region who are rising up and calling for democracy, not us.
instead of (or in addition to) arabic translations of jefferson, i'd like to see more discussion that explains the idea of democracy isn't exclusive in its origins to the west.
via wiki:
A possible example of primitive democracy may have been the early Sumerian city-states.[29] A similar proto-democracy or oligarchy existed temporarily among the Medes (ancient Iranian people) in the 6th century BC, but which came to an end after the Achaemenid (Persian) Emperor Darius the Great declared that the best monarchy was better than the best oligarchy or best democracy.[30]
A serious claim for early democratic institutions comes from the independent "republics" of India, sanghas and ganas, which existed as early as the 6th century BC and persisted in some areas until the 4th century AD.[31] The evidence is scattered and no pure historical source exists for that period. In addition, Diodorus (a Greek historian at the time of Alexander the Great's excursion of India), without offering any detail, mentions that independent and democratic states existed in India.[32]
link to en.wikipedia.org
The concepts of liberalism and democratic participation were already present in the medieval Islamic world.[2][3][4] Azizah Y. al-Hibri, for example, argues that Medina during Muhammad's time was an early example of a democratic state but that the development of democracy in the Islamic world eventually came to a halt following to the Sunni–Shia split.[5]
link to en.wikipedia.org
proper credit hasn't been given to the east for its contributions to the modern world.