Roadmap/Democracy a move backwards not forwards?

[SomaliPhilosopher]

I was reading the book description of "The Law of Somalis", a book that describes Somalia's customary law system. I hope to purchase the book, it sounds interesting.But anyways, Michael van Notten, a dutch lawyer, in this book argues Somalia does not need a democracy and any attempt to do so leaders to "inevitable chaos".

 

The author clearly admires the sophistication of the Xeer system and deems democracy irrelevant with our customs.

 

I did not read the book yet, so I do not know the details of his argument. But we can debate and reason among ourselves.

 

This made me reconsider the 'success' of Somalia towards adopting a new constitution and government based on 'democratic' values. Perhaps this is not a move forward but rather a move backwards as we are forgoing our customs and adopting a 'imported' system that may not sit too well with our culture.

[Wadani]

The central question in Somali politics is which system/s of governance can and should successfully be used to administer Somalia. If only one of the three, being Western liberal democracy, Somali traditional Xeer or Islamic shariah, is chosen, how will it effect us both domestically, internationally, and afterlife-ly? If a hybrid of two or all three systems is deemed to be the solution, can they be successfully reconciled in a manner that will not cause injury to the integrity or essential nature of each system? If not, how will we determine which central components of each system we can purge in order to achieve the desired harmony among them?

[SomaliPhilosopher]

I see, answering a question with another question, I like. According to Notten democracy and Xeer cannot be reconciled. Interesting that you brought another dynamic to the equation, Shariah law. I completely forgot about that. I'd say Shariah law is the biggest threat to the Xeer system as Sharia tends to involve itself in local issues and has done so in Somalia whereas Somali democracy has yet to even infiltrate at the federal level. I am not sure harmony can be created between these systems. I'm inclined to say any attempt to create harmony is futile.

[QansaxMeygaag]

^

SP, I recommend you read IM Lewis, a Pastoral Democracy...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Pastoral-Democracy-Pastoralism-Politics-Anthropology/dp/0852552807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361347473&sr=8-1&keywords=a+pastoral+democracy

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Aha, IM Lewis. I've tried to get into some of his work, but his writing was too dry for me to even finish one of his many books. But perhaps I shall try again. Have you read that one?