The path towards sustainable political parties in the Arab world
moatinoon
Under this heading, writer Marwan al-Mushar addresses a very important issue for building active political parties capable of playing their role in the democratic political process in the Arab world. He addressed the experiences of a number of parties in certain countries, namely Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
As an input to his valuable article, the writer emphasized the importance of emerging parties overcoming their institutional challenges and improving their capacity to provide for the peoples long-term needs. He argued that, despite many of these parties, they had been instrumental in overthrowing old regimes. However, it had difficulty developing coherent identities, establishing effective support bases and building sustainable electoral bases. If they are to participate actively in the political process. The fate of these emerging parties will play an enormous role in determining the success of the Arab regions political transition.
The author has developed several recommendations for emerging political parties as follows:
• Develop clear and detailed programmes that go beyond what the party opposes to determine what it intends to do, that is, to meet societys real economic and social needs.
• Designing programs through inclusive consultation with voters rather than relying on small fan advice from experts.
• Abandon outdated ideological programmes and find new ways to find solutions to the challenges of job creation, ensure economic mobility, achieve equality before the law, combat corruption and ensure broader and more equitable political representation.
• Promote educational policies that promote pluralism, tolerance, respect for different perspectives and critical thinking.
• There are real links with people, learning from Islamic parties that have built electoral bases for decades through the provision of health, education and other services.
• Develop new and innovative strategies to collect small, but regular, contributions from a broad base of citizens.
• Persuade the business community to play a more effective role in financing emerging political parties by demonstrating that the establishment of a strong, independent and stable party system is in its interest.
• There is little unsustainable focus on party personalities and leaders alone.
• To encourage the consolidation of secular political parties by focusing on the inclusive big tent policy.
The writer says (the emerging secular political parties in the three countries are still striving to prove their presence in their political systems. Although some alliances have been formed, the spectacle of political parties in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia remains highly fragmented. Parties lack the necessary levels of public awareness and support to play an active political role, with two possible exceptions, the Alliance of National Forces of Libya and Tunisias Tunisia Appeal.
Discrimination between parties in a crowded field
Marwan paints a negative picture of the emergence of many parties following the Arab revolutions, where voters faced a daunting task in trying to determine which party would represent their best interests. He says (the problem is further complicated by the fact that many parties seemed to be mirror images of each other, devoid of ideology, and dependent on the support of a small group of elites. Even those parties that have embraced a certain ideology often seem to mitigate the extent to which this ideology has an impact on their identity. Almost all parties have vague and backward approaches and plans. The result is a quagmire of similar political organizations, in which it is almost impossible for voters to discriminate. In the authors view, parties often relied on their founders personalities rather than focusing on clear programmes, which rendered them unsustainable in the long term, and raised doubts among citizens that the real objective of these parties was to glorify the personality of individuals rather than the well-being of the people.
Refusing or mitigating ideology is a strategic option that reflects these parties reading of the external political environment and internal political constraints. Ideology is seen by many as divisive and devoid of the benefits of actual policy. Therefore, some parties see no point in identifying an ideological identity for themselves. Even parties claiming ideological affiliation appear to underestimate their importance to reduce internal divisions.
Instead, these emerging forces focused on establishing larger parties through a series of political alliances. The Indian National Congress Party (NCP) is sometimes mentioned as a role model, focusing on the creation of alliances that mobilize support from specific local bases, voters blocs and smaller parties. The aim of this structure is to enable parties to interact more effectively with the people and their needs.
This strategy is not necessarily wrong. Outdated ideologies do not appeal to voters and do not offer effective solutions, and therefore parties are right to focus on building local relationships with voters. However, the problem is that most of these parties in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia arose in the absence of a strong social base or other raison d être. This reality, in addition to the vast number of parties, means that most of them have not been able to communicate with enough people to emerge in the crowded field of parties.
The situation was exacerbated by the parties lack of clear plans and programmes. It has little to offer to voters who wish to communicate with it. This deficiency is likely due in part to the parties lack of experience in governance. Citizens in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were excluded from policymaking under previous regimes, and therefore it was difficult for them to put forward attractive and realistic policy proposals. These programmes can be improved when party members gain more electoral, legislative and political experience, but of course the impediment is that they first need to mobilize sufficient support to be able to participate in elections.
Create sustainable support bases
The rules for supporting emerging parties are still in arrears, the writer says. The reasons for this are as follows:
Many people do not know the names of parties in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, even the most ethnic among them, and the support provided to them.
Parties rely on a small group of their elite members for fundraising and political appearance in the media. It makes them vulnerable to exploitation by donors and the wealthy something that is in the box of corruption. This avoidance leads to weak funding that makes it difficult to attract advocates, and a lack of advocates prevents the development of a robust, broad-based network of voluntary contributions.
Societal mistrust of political parties created during the decades of authoritarian rule in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Many citizens, including young activists who promote parties activism and political visibility, will refuse to join the parties because they believe that such affiliation will undermine their political influence.
Parties faced difficulties in using the tools available to recruit supporters and build wider electoral bases. Social media was precisely ineffective; Although it had served as a platform for expressing views, it had not succeeded in attracting new members to the parties.
Working in a vague political environment
In his article, the author says that, in addition to lack of expertise and controversial funding procedures, things are worsening environments for the political transitions within which these parties operate. Apart from the vague and uncertain legal environment, the regulations on party organization and fund-raising are slowly and unevenly developed. As laws and constitutions are drafted, parties focus more on trying to influence the new rules of the game in the hope of creating favourable regulations for party action than on developing their own identities and support rules.
Road map for sustainable parties
The records of emerging parties in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia over the past three years have varied completely. While the initial explosion in the growth of the parties was followed by increased reinforcement and activism by the more successful parties, there is no doubt that all these forces continue to face serious challenges. Parties problems are significant in terms of identifying themselves, building sustainable support bases and dealing with vague political environments. The parties also suffer from poor funding, indefinite programmes, and inability or unwillingness to focus on the economic demands of most citizens in the Arab world. Therefore, in order to move in the right direction, the emerging parties should broaden their thinking horizon and look to the future.
The international community can play an important supportive role in this framework. While popular and governmental resistance to foreign assistance programmes for democracy has made it increasingly difficult to work directly with political parties in the Arab world, opportunities remain to promote stronger party-building by supporting beneficial organizational conditions. International actors must encourage Governments to adopt laws that facilitate open and free political discourse, combat corruption, allow the formation of political organizations and fund-raising, and promote justice and transparency in electoral systems. They could also demand a serious commitment to free and fair elections that would enable citizens to participate effectively in the democratic process.
However, the source of real change lies in the emerging parties themselves. The latter must pursue clear objectives to improve its performance on the ground and its organizational capacity.
Programme development
Develop clear and detailed programmes that meet citizens actual economic and social needs. These parties have performed more poorly in defining their advocacy goals, especially in addressing economic and social problems, such as job creation, more inclusive growth and fair treatment before the law. While emphasis on principles such as pluralism and inclusiveness is a necessary part of the process of building democracy, secular parties also need to develop more comprehensive proposals that respond to citizens problems in their countries.
Engage in inclusive consultations with voters rather than relying on the advice of small groups of experts. Parties must obtain broader popular approval by engaging their constituencies in their programming process. This objective can be achieved by organizing activities such as meetings in municipal houses and visits to remote areas to explore citizens needs directly. Parties can then use the information they have gathered in developing their programmes.
Abandon outdated ideological programs and find new ways to find solutions. Emerging parties should find new and innovative ways to persuasively promote genuine political solutions that address the challenges of job creation, ensuring economic mobility, promoting investment, achieving equality before the law, combating corruption and ensuring broader and more equitable political representation.
Promote educational policies that promote pluralism, tolerance, respect for different perspectives and critical thinking. If parties want to promote the long-term health of their countries nascent democratic systems, they must strongly advocate educational reforms that emphasize pluralism and tolerance. The parties policies must also prepare the next generation at an early age to become real citizens rather than followers.
Building grassroots
Overnight, the new secular parties will not be able to establish inclusive social norms, but they must develop strategies that will allow them long-term access to already existing social norms, such as unions and student groups, and enable them to build their own bases in the longer term. The use of media expression, as many of these parties do, is a start but not enough to reach people effectively.
Develop new and innovative strategies to collect small but regular contributions from a broad base of citizens.
Persuade the business community to play a more effective role in financing emerging political parties by demonstrating that a strong and stable party system is in its interest. Emerging secular parties must convince the private sector that a stable, vibrant and pluralistic party system is a key element of an effective democratic government capable of promoting economic growth.
Restructuring of party organizations
Reduce the focus on party leaders personalities. and seek to build their organizations in a way that is not dependent on one persons political fate.
