Egypt: Does the road to democracy begin with dictatorship?
NCM Online, May 5, 2001
By Franz Schurmann

We Americans talk a lot about democracy. If asked what is democracy Americans will likely respond somewhere along the line: "it means power rests in the people." But the problem with such an answer is that it is an abstraction, lofty as it may be.

Dr. Mamoun Fandy, professor of political science at Georgetown University, rejects all abstractions like ideology or culture when trying to define democracy. His quest comes from his origins. He was born and grew up in Egypt, an ally of the US but definitely not a democracy. He wonders in the As-Sharq al-Ausat ( April 30,2001) whether Egyptian democracy can be built up from the ground?

He starts by identifying two building blocks of his architectural design. One is space and the other is the individual H e takes his reader on a tour of countries France and Japan.

In Paris most of the people are individuals. In Cairo most are not. Fandy explains that in Paris every dwelling has a numerical designation that allows every individual to correctly receive his or her mail. In the many old districts of Cairo numbers are jumbled and postal service spotty.

Before the French Revolution, Paris, too, had alleys rather than boulevards. One individual man, Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann in mid-19th century cut through thousands of old houses to create the wide boulevards that mark modern Paris. The hands of the state quickly struck wherever there was trouble in the city. But Parisian individualism flourished and became the cultural model for the rest of France and much of the world as well.

Looking at Cairo Fandy radically suggests that "dictatorship is a key step on the road to democracy." Haussmann was a ruthless dictator yet Fandy sees him as a major architect of French democracy. Egypt, despite some democratic sprouts, is run by an authoritarian regime. Fandy's plan for getting Egypt on the road to democracy is to start by bringing digital precision in three areas of people's everyday life: postal service, street signs and automotive traffic.

Another country, Japan, also offers a testing ground for Fandy's approach. From the time modernization began in 1868 until recently, except for Kyoto, there was not a single straight and broad street anywhere in Japan. And even in Kyoto the numbering of houses followed no rational sequence except date of construction. Every habitation was numbered by attachment to a ward that was part of higher and higher mosaics of space.

Unlike Egypt, Japan underwent an impressive modernization that almost gave it victory in World War II. However, Japan was not democratic. Now it is democratic and on the road to complete individuation. Straight boulevards have appeared alongside freeways that slice right through huge cities. The postal zones have not changed but modern digital computers make it easy to find places. Even in old cities like Kyoto the alleys seem straighter than they were earlier.

Japanese modernization in good part took place only in Japan's superstructure. It wasn't until recently that most of the rest of the society was also modernized and democratized. Authoritarian governments governed Japan from 1868 well into the post-war period. Now that too seems to be finally changing.

Cairo is an old city with lots of charm and poverty. Naguib Mahfouz received the Nobel Prize in literature because of his stories about old Cairo. Old means traditional. After Haussmann little of the traditional remained in Paris. To find old France one had to go out into the countryside. Nowadays how much of old France remains even in the countryside is questionable.

If an Egyptian Haussmann should appear, alleys in Cairo will likely to vanish. In Egypt the question may be whether democratization first can also bring modernization in its wake, or vice versa. Or Egypt could find itself facing the fate of Iran. The first Shah and then his son carried out a repressive modernization that, unlike that of Japan, did not succeed. In November 1978 Iranians had neither modernization nor democracy. The result was the Islamic revolution.We Americans talk a lot about democracy. If asked what is democracy Americans will likely respond somewhere along the line: "it means power rests in the people." But the problem with such an answer is that it is an abstraction, lofty as it may be.

Dr. Mamoun Fandy, professor of political science at Georgetown University, rejects all abstractions like ideology or culture when trying to define democracy. His quest comes from his origins. He was born and grew up in Egypt, an ally of the US but definitely not a democracy. He wonders in the As-Sharq al-Ausat ( April 30,2001) whether Egyptian democracy can be built up from the ground?

He starts by identifying two building blocks of his architectural design. One is space and the other is the individual H e takes his reader on a tour of countries France and Japan.

In Paris most of the people are individuals. In Cairo most are not. Fandy explains that in Paris every dwelling has a numerical designation that allows every individual to correctly receive his or her mail. In the many old districts of Cairo numbers are jumbled and postal service spotty.

Before the French Revolution, Paris, too, had alleys rather than boulevards. One individual man, Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann in mid-19th century cut through thousands of old houses to create the wide boulevards that mark modern Paris. The hands of the state quickly struck wherever there was trouble in the city. But Parisian individualism flourished and became the cultural model for the rest of France and much of the world as well.

Looking at Cairo Fandy radically suggests that "dictatorship is a key step on the road to democracy." Haussmann was a ruthless dictator yet Fandy sees him as a major architect of French democracy. Egypt, despite some democratic sprouts, is run by an authoritarian regime. Fandy's plan for getting Egypt on the road to democracy is to start by bringing digital precision in three areas of people's everyday life: postal service, street signs and automotive traffic.

Another country, Japan, also offers a testing ground for Fandy's approach. From the time modernization began in 1868 until recently, except for Kyoto, there was not a single straight and broad street anywhere in Japan. And even in Kyoto the numbering of houses followed no rational sequence except date of construction. Every habitation was numbered by attachment to a ward that was part of higher and higher mosaics of space.

Unlike Egypt, Japan underwent an impressive modernization that almost gave it victory in World War II. However, Japan was not democratic. Now it is democratic and on the road to complete individuation. Straight boulevards have appeared alongside freeways that slice right through huge cities. The postal zones have not changed but modern digital computers make it easy to find places. Even in old cities like Kyoto the alleys seem straighter than they were earlier.

Japanese modernization in good part took place only in Japan's superstructure. It wasn't until recently that most of the rest of the society was also modernized and democratized. Authoritarian governments governed Japan from 1868 well into the post-war period. Now that too seems to be finally changing.

Cairo is an old city with lots of charm and poverty. Naguib Mahfouz received the Nobel Prize in literature because of his stories about old Cairo. Old means traditional. After Haussmann little of the traditional remained in Paris. To find old France one had to go out into the countryside. Nowadays how much of old France remains even in the countryside is questionable.

If an Egyptian Haussmann should appear, alleys in Cairo will likely to vanish. In Egypt the question may be whether democratization first can also bring modernization in its wake, or vice versa. Or Egypt could find itself facing the fate of Iran. The first Shah and then his son carried out a repressive modernization that, unlike that of Japan, did not succeed. In November 1978 Iranians had neither modernization nor democracy. The result was the Islamic revolution.