A Historical Analysis of Trans-national Integration Movements : A Comparison of the European with the Muslim World Experience (1970-2000)

Abstract

Over 1.5 billion Muslims inhabit the globe; two thirds of them live in the 57 Muslim states while the rest live as minorities worldwide. The Muslim world, a generic term for the collectivity of Muslim states, spreads over large parts of Asia and Africa with a sprinkling of a few small countries in Europe (Albania, Bosnia, and the newly independent Kosovo) and Latin America (Surinam and Guyana) too 1 . This huge diversity, if anything, makes the politics of the Muslim world a bit complex. Islam, like other Divine religions, has given its followers a collective self-identity by declaring all the believers as brothers and sisters. The concept of ummah, that is quintessentially unique to Islam, declares Muslims to be a single nation. Ummah is not nation in the ethnic or nationalistic sense. The root of this word, Umm means mother or source, in Arabic. Thus, the believers are treated to be people of the same (ideological) flock. They have mutual rights and responsibilities, as belonging to the same fraternity. This concept of Ummah also translates and manifests itself into calls for unity right from the dawn of Islam up till the present day. Upon his Hijrah (migration) in 622 A.D, the Prophet laid foundations of the first ever Islamic State which lasted as a political unity for around one century and a half. This included the last ten last years of Prophet‟s own life until his death on 3 rd June 632, the era of the first three of (what are called) the Right- 1 The definition of „Muslim State‟ has been adopted from Kettani (1993) that every State that joins the Organization of the Islamic Cooeration (OIC) self-identifies itself as a Muslim state and hence may be counted as such. The Muslim world, under this definition, consists of all the member-states of the OIC. xivguided Caliphs (literally: the Deputy to the Prophet) to whom the political leadership of the Muslim community had descended; the Ommayyad dynasty (661-750 AD), and finally, the first ten years of the Abbasid dynasty (r. 750-1258). The exception was the rule of the fourth Caliph, Hazrat Ali (r. 656-661 A.D), when the then Governor of Syria, Amir Muawiyah raised the banner of revolt, chipping away the control of half of Islamdom under his grip. After Ali‟s death, Muawiyah was able to assert his authority over the whole known-Muslim world of that time which was retained, mainly through repression and coercion, by the (Omayyad) dynasty he founded. However, within the first ten years of the successor Abbasid dynasty, this semblance of single command was lost with the secession of Andalusia (now Spain) and political unity of the Muslim world has remained elusive ever since, till the present day. The institution of Caliphate has lasted in one form or the other upto as recently as 3 rd of March 1924, when the last Ottoman Caliph was deposed. Thus till the first quarter of the twentieth century, in the person of Caliph--- a rough equivalent of the Roman Catholic Pope--- there was a symbol of spiritual unity of the Muslim world. It is no surprise, therefore, that in the four and a half decades that followed, since 1924, the calls for unity seemed to come with renewed passions. The institution of Caliphate could not be restored but the Muslim world managed to establish an institution, called the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in 1969, that augments, reflects and articulates the interests of the Muslim world on international forums. 2 The OIC alone was deemed not sufficient for bringing “solidarity” in the Muslim world, so a whole panoply of 2 In 2010, the Charter of the Organization was amended and the name has been changed too as the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. But since the dissertation was submitted in 2009 and research work took place in preceding years, the new name does not appear in the doctoral dissertation. xvinstitutions were created under its tutelage for the purpose. Interestingly, the word “unity” does not appear anywhere in the Charter of the OIC in its list of objectives or otherwise, unlike the founding documents of, say, European Union and the African Union where unity was the main founding objective. Be that as it may, these institutions and organizations under the OIC umbrella have had their contribution in bringing the Muslim world closer in the areas of politics, economics, and culture etc. However, the dream of a pan-Islamic Union, which has a powerful following among the Muslim masses, has remained a far cry up till now. There have been many instances in the history of the world where states have come together for a march towards a common destiny. United States of America, which started from 13 states in 1776, has today 50 states in the Union, and is the most powerful country on earth. The erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was another example but the structure of repression associated with it could not outlive the demise of the Communist system. With the end of cold war, the USSR disintegrated and all its 14 in republics, besides Russia, regained their lost liberty and identity. And here lies the point-- - the main argument of the present dissertation--- that no Union can survive unless it has the backing of the people. The notion of a “United States of Europe” propounded by Monnet and Schumann more than half a century ago, despite all the hurdles and handicaps, continues to move towards an “ever closer Union”. There is no unanimously agreed or clear sketch or roadmap for a “United States of Islam” as yet. However, the EU template with a common visa regime, same currency, identical taxation and revenue structure, free mobility of persons and goods between the nations, etc may serve as a xvimodel for those aspiring for the unity in the Muslim world. Why have the ideas of Monnet and Schumann triumphed in Europe and why have similar notions for unity by the likes of Iqbal and Jamaluddin Afghani failed in the Muslim world, needs further investigation that the present dissertation aims at delving into. The phenomenon of a political and economic Union in Europe, unlike that in the world of Islam, is of fairly recent origin that started from a Coal and Steel Community between just six nations, in 1951, after the Second World War. It moved on to become a Union through the Treaty of Maastricht 1992, shortly after the end of cold war. The success of the European Union, 3 from the ashes of two centuries of warfare in Europe including the Cold War that divided Europe through an iron curtain for nearly half a century, makes the failures of the Muslim world/ OIC more evidently, and (at least, for the proponents of pan-Islamism) somewhat depressingly, comparable. The European Union started with humble beginnings and modest aims. It expanded on the wave of freedoms that the people enjoyed and cherished, while keeping religion at bay from Statecraft. The route to political integration came through cooperation in the field of energy, and ultimately, economics. The Schumann Declaration of 9 May 1950, clearly starts with a vision of market as an instrument of freedom which and includes everything from the movement of goods and services to the exchange of ideas. In the decades that followed, the rule of law, accountability of rulers through regular elections, a vibrant free press, equal participation of women in national affairs, all contributed to rule- 3 The doctoral dissertation has been written prior to recent economic turmoil in Ireland, Spain and Greece, and may be seen in that light xviibased pan-European governance. Freedom of expression helps governments in avoiding mistakes where throttling dissent is not in the menu of options. Public participation in integration process through frequent referendums leads people to own the pan-European scheme, which in turn garners public enthusiasm for (and sometimes against) and commitment to, the process of integration. In contrast, the integration efforts in the Muslim world, under the OIC-framework, started with grandiose aims trying to rely heavily on religious dogmas, rather than practical considerations. Religion alone has hardly ever sufficed to forge unity among co- religionists, in the recorded history, at least. Lack of public participation meant that instruments of cooperation remained under control of the rulers who rarely represented the peoples. Of course, there were individual vested interests that tried to mould and manipulate integration efforts to their ends. This has resulted in a hotch potch of institutions and policies, with little concrete output from a whole lot of input activities. It relied heavily on political rhetoric, with a vain hope of translating it into economic unity, instead of establishing an economic symbiosis first that would have made political solidarity inevitable. The focus on politics rather made the OIC an arena for competing aspirants of leadership in the Muslim world notably, between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also varyingly serving the interests of countries like Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey etc who had claims over prominence in the comity of Muslim nations. The role of the United States and --- during the Cold War eta--- that of the Soviet Union did not help the matters either. But this last xviiifactor was more pronounced in Europe where Cold War divisions denied the EU an opportunity to expand Eastwards for a long period. The research is restricted to the first three decades after the genesis of the OIC (i.e. 1970- 2000) and analyses five areas of cooperation in the Muslim world, spear-headed by the OIC. It is not out of place to mention here that as the dissertation is submitted to the Department of Pakistan Studies, Pakistan‟s role in these pan Islamic schemes has been accorded a separate mention in all five areas: In the domain of political cooperation, the OIC had no permanent institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament. The Muslim world‟s collective decision making emanates from the OIC‟s twin fundamental organs; the Islamic Summit Conferences that meet triennially, and the Islamic Conferences of Foreign Ministers meeting annually, for a few days each. The political coordination has thus been ad hoc and issue-based, although, in all fairness, it must be accepted that more often than not, such efforts did show results as in the crises of Bosnia, Afghanistan and South Philippines etc. In the realm of economic cooperation, there has been significant improvement in intra-Muslim trade in the three decades under review (1970-2000), but how far, such increase owes to pan-Islamic sentiments is unclear. The cooperation in the field of science and technology suffers from lack of scientific advancement in Muslim countries; they have hardly anything to share with each other. Another area studied in my work is cultural cooperation in the Muslim countries under xixthe umbrella of the OIC during the same period ranging from documentation of Islamic History, organization of intra Islamic sports competitions, coordination in architecture, calligraphy, and performing arts etc. And finally, military cooperation in the Muslim world whch sometimes takes the form of intelligence sharing on terrorists or even political dissidents opposing autocracies in some Muslim countries--- hardly the job of a professional army. The only real noteworthy coordination was during Bosnian civil war 1992-95 where the Militaries of leading Islamic countries like Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Pakistan coordinated their support for Bosnian army. Relying basically on secondary sources, the dissertation shows that while the efforts towards cooperation since the inception of OIC and upto 2000 have brought the Muslim States closer, than would have been the case, had there been no OIC. But that does not make the Muslim world anywhere nearer to where the EU stood in 2000, in terms of achieving goals for unity, especially after the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2000). After analyzing the five areas of cooperation in the Muslim world, the dissertation looks at the history of European integration, especially the main milestones achieved uring the period under review i.e. 1970-2000 and argues that despite its failings, the EU experience has been a much greater success with a single parliament, a common market, a common visa regime, a coordinated foreign and security policy, among many other trappings of a meaningful Union. xxMy work delves into the reasons for this disparity in the outcome of two contemporary integration efforts and concludes that the failure of the Muslim world owes to unrealistic aims, undue emphasis on theological rationale for unity (as opposed to practical gains for national interests) and because of the democratic deficit where the citizenry is not involved into the decision making. It follows that all the endeavors in like direction by the OIC may remain isolated unconnected events unless the Muslim world embraces the modern trends towards democracy 4 , rule of law, education, tolerance of free debate and respect to human rights, including gender equality, as done by the European Union. Unity in the Muslim world may follow proactive actions towards the fundamental freedoms and the supremacy of law, rather than precede it. Mere rhetoric and sloganeering is a road to nowhere! Though not in the purview of the period under study, it may be said to the OIC‟s credit that, lately, it has done some reorientation of its focus with a distinctly reformist character. The Charter has been amended substantially in 2008 to include focus on Human Rights and Good Governance. An Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) has been established --- the first ever in the Muslim world on human rights. And what is more important to note is that references to Sharia have been abandoned altogether in its founding Statutes unlike the Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (Cairo; 1990), quarter of a century earlier, which referred to Sharia, and not the universally accepted valued enunciated in the international human rights instruments and protocols, as the “sole source of reference”. The direction is right but proof of pudding is in its eating. The IPHRC remained conspicuously inactive during the 4 The research work was done before the present Arab uprising of 2011-12 that has so far swept dictators from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and the fate of ruling juntas Syria and Bahrain appear doomed. xxiglaring trample of human rights during the Arab spring in many countries. To be able to do something for the Muslim peoples, the OIC will have to make itself relevant to them first! Saad S. Khan Doctoral Candidate 18 March 2012