By Kamal Azari
The ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America in 1788 marked the birth of a new modern state. However, this event had its roots in the vacuum created by the religious struggles of the 16th and 17th centuries. With its conceptual roots in the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the subsequent recognition of the concept of sovereignty, the actual emergence of modern nation-states can be traced to 18th century Europe and in particular, the removal of the absolute monarchies in France.
The modern state, represented for example by the United States, is characterized by national control of foreign relations and of commerce, separation of powers, federalism, and a constitutional guarantee of individual rights and liberties. For over two hundred years, this state has been remarkably successful in providing a secure environment and in fostering the individual initiative and creativity that provide for self-actualization and thereby contribute to the public good.
The vastness of the American frontier and its abundant natural resources provided social, economic, and environmental opportunities, which encouraged individual creativity and innovation. The accumulation of capital, made possible in part through the institutionalization of the corporation as an organizational form, encouraged investment and entrepreneurial activity. The individual protections afforded by the new society fostered opportunities that led to amazing innovations and technological advances. Finally, the diversity of immigrants to the United States created a “brave new world” that broke the bonds of traditional and insular thinking and opened pathways for the exchange of new ideas.
Although inequities certainly existed during the first two centuries of the United States’ development and persist today, the belief in and possibility of equality and individual advancement also existed on a previously‑unknown scale. However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, corporations became a dominant form of economic organization. As laws were changed and the Constitution was reinterpreted to meet the demands of a changing society, corporations began to assume the legal rights and immunities once intended and reserved for individual citizens. Today, due in part to a concomitant concentration of rights, resources, and power in the hands of large corporations, and to a lesser extent trade unions, the modern state is on the brink of crisis, both in the US and in Europe, where Greece is only the most recent nation to suffer. There is a growing sense, often restricted to a segment of the political community, that existing institutions have ceased to adequately meet the problems posed by an environment that they have in part created.
The current political environment reveals that American citizens are disillusioned, distrustful, and angry about conditions they believe the government could solve, if only it had the will and willingness to listen to their voices. There is a growing and potentially dangerous disconnect between the ideal of a representative democracy as understood by its citizens and its actual operation. Most Americans have an ingrained expectation of “equality,” although that concept is understood in different terms depending on one’s place in society. When expectations of equality and its correlate of hope for a better life, however these terms are understood, are not met, people look for someone or something to blame.
It is not necessary to adopt writer Arianna Huffington’s assessment that America is in danger of becoming a “Third World” country with only two classes, nor is it necessary to view the government as utterly ineffective in the face of a greedy corporate elite to believe that something has gone awry. In a huge shift, an economy that was based on satisfaction of human needs and bargaining in the marketplace has transformed into market-controlled consumerism based on ever-growing demand for consumer goods. However, the adaptation of a consumerism-driven economy, with its huge environmental impact, is neither suitable nor sustainable for Iran to adopt this model without significant review and overhaul of its basic principles.
The founders of the modern political order did not and could not have, predicted the new power structure that was in part the product of industrialization, the concentration of capital, changing conceptions of commerce, and the new consumerism. As the United States matured, its governmental powers were modified and reinterpreted. As societal conditions changed, along with the growth of new economic institutions, the original “balance” so important to America’s Founding Fathers was lost.
For the nations of the MENA, adopting the existing model of the modern state without considering the recent past experiences of human suffering and waste caused by this model would be totally irresponsible. Instead, the objective should be to learn from the achievements and the mistakes of this model and to try to address its deficiencies by envisioning a new political model that can theoretically address the problems of the current model by emphasizing construction of subsistence-based, sustainable economies.
Iranians have demonstrated that they aspire to the same economic and cultural strength that other modern states have achieved. However, the environmental conditions in Iran present a somewhat different laboratory for experimenting in the creation of a new form of postmodern community based on principles of subsistence and sustainability. Most notable the severe environmental concerns and shortage of water in Iran. However, technology plays an equalizing role, as ideas come into Iran via telecommunications, from the Internet to Facebook and Twitter. Over the past two decades, the increasing flow of global information has changed the perspective of many citizens of Iran. At the same time, improved transportation and communication have allowed the diffusion of innovation to spread much more quickly. In Iran, the abundance of information and the visions of alternative opportunities are creating new possibilities for personal liberty, economic empowerment, and the role of government.
In order to take advantage of these possibilities, we have to consider other ways in which the role of government in Iran has changed. Over the past two centuries, the government has expanded tremendously and taken on many new obligations. Traditionally, the governments had three essential functions: national defense (self-preservation), administration of justice (law and order), and the provision of certain public goods (transportation infrastructure). The current iranian government has grown beyond the bounds of these simple duties and is expected to take on obligations such as education, pensions, health care, and many other programs for public welfare. The cost of providing these services, using the current corrupt and inept institutions will be unbearable and impossible for any new government.
Yet while the government can change, but without rethinking the existing state structure, the problems will persist into the new government. Today, as in the past, the engines of growth and social and economic prosperity are the creative and entrepreneurial individuals who cause positive disruption and change through their own unique abilities and perseverance. However, these talents need strong communal support to grow and flourish, and it is the duty of post‑modern governments to provide this support by ensuring the security of the nation and creating a stable environment that fosters free trade, innovation, development, and production, and to protect against internal threats such as corruption, racketeering, intimidation, and violence.
Such a government must enable all citizens to have an equal opportunity to better themselves based on personal choice, access to quality education, and supportive communities that provide basic infrastructural support such as housing, running water, electricity, and unfettered digital access to the rest of the world. Moreover, access to capital is crucial for growth. Instead of the parastatal authorities making payments to a powerful individual, there would be adequate salaries for those who serve the public, such as political figures in the public sector and the police.
To achieve these requirements, a new post-modern political order should be designed. In addition, it should be based on the realities of the diversified and unique communities of Iran, from the bottom up. This would not be the first time this has occurred. In the 1700s, the American colonies were somewhat isolated from the more developed nations of Europe. A small number of elite citizens held the wealth of the land. Moreover, the colonies were saddled with an imposed government that did not meet their needs nor provide them with the personal and economic freedoms they needed to take advantage of their resources. Yet the world was beginning to enter an age of industrialization and capitalism, influenced by Adam Smith’s revolutionary work on economic theory, The Wealth of Nations, which had been published in 1776. In this environment of repression and opportunity, the colonies introduced a republican form of government that was untried. And that governmental form changed everything.
The post-Islamic Republic of Iran will find itself in a similar position. They have governments that are not working as effectively as they could be. Wealth is concentrated in the elite. The nations are somewhat isolated, but through the influence of technology, they have begun to aspire to be more free, entrepreneurial societies. What they need is a new form of government that can allow them to take advantage of their human capital and let entrepreneurialism flourish.
As a first step, the successful post-modern state must find a way to level the playing field in society and redress current inequities in the power structure. To accomplish this, it should retain some of the precepts of the modern state, while creating new structures and processes designed to halt the trend toward corporate dominance and provide all individuals equal access to public resources. The values underlying the modern system, including the separation of powers and the protection of individual rights and liberties, are important and should be preserved. The structures that embody those values, however, should be modified to mitigate the undue concentration of community resources in the hands of an elite. With this objective in mind, it is time for a new solution: a four-branch, community-centric government.
The opinion expressed do not necessarily reflect those of ITC
