By Alexander Perepechko

Published on April 22, 2012

Why do rulers need to identify themselves with myths, beliefs or doctrines? Mosca (1939: 80) asserts that great human masses can be organized around and ruled by only generally accepted and recognized abstract universal principles. Human beings more readily defer to abstract universal ideas than to the will of individual persons. It is easier for the majority to accept rule by the minority in the form of an abstraction or myth than to accept direct rule by the ruling class. The ruling class justifies its rule by institutions and moral and legal norms which are in turn based on myths, beliefs and doctrines. Elites act through hierarchies of functionaries (bureaucracies), which guide a society materially and morally toward goals (Mosca, 1972: 1, 268). These ends conform to the visions of the ruling class and at times are desired by the masses. Figure 1 depicts major elements of the political cultural system of society offered by Mosca. Some elements of this system will be discussed later on.

Figure 1. Political Cultural System of Society (Source: Generated by the author based on Mosca, 1939 & 1972).

Rational or supernatural, universal or particularistic, principles and ideas are always bounded with material interests of elites. A considerable part of a ruling class is filled with these doctrines and beliefs and propagates and keeps them alive in the masses. The consent of masses depends upon the extent to which the governed believe in the values and ideas by which the ruling class justifies its rule. Societies in decline (manufacturing falls, middle class shrinks, bureaucracies grow, taxes increase and immigration decreases) become old because at such times doctrines and beliefs, on which social and political institutions are grounded, gradually are discredited. Accordingly, common action in an aging society becomes hardly possible. At the moment when the majority of those who joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were cynics who pursued only material and career interests and disregarded principles on which the USSR had been created the country was doomed.

The concept of the political cultural system outlined by Mosca is helpful in understanding changes in recent society. The fashion in which the ruling class is formed and the way in which norms and institutions are shaped must be suited to myths, beliefs and doctrines prevailing in the given society in its historical period. Therefore, a ruling class that bases its power on the divine needs to be formed differently from a ruling class that justifies its powers on popular sovereignty and democratic consensus (Mosca, 1972: 2, 249). For example, the Koran is Bible and Law in one (see Leroy-Beaulieu, 1991). It is the word of the Prophet that takes the place of law. Since customs and laws are sanctified to eternity by religion, Islamic societies tend to be immobile and lean to theocracy. On the contrary, the Bible has very few principles directly pertaining to political life. It is not surprising that the secular state is a feature of the West. Without seriously taking into account this crucial difference, any American project about “democratization” of Southwest Asia and North African countries seems murky. European elites learned long ago (for example, from the writings of Vicenzo Cuoco at the end of the 18^th century (Germino, 1979: 231)) that norms and institutions cannot be made similar for different countries, that norms and institutions result from the past of a country, and that they should fit the country’s history. Perhaps this fact partially explains why European colonialism was “more successful” than recent American attempts to “export” the ballot box or American democracy. These attempts have cost many thousands of human lives and hundreds billions of dollars.

In Southwest Asia and North Africa, neoconservatives would like to change the organization of local elites using coup d’état and create new institutions and norms using war and occupation. But these techniques do not produce corresponding changes in myths, beliefs and doctrines. Quite the contrary, these approaches can harden Islamic tradition and catalyze radical Islam. Neo-liberals are more prone to work at the grassroots level via NGOs and educational, public health, youth and other organizations. Neo-liberals are also more eager to use public relations experts and broadcast networks to reshape traditions in the Southwest Asian and North African societies. A mild modernization effort can also be a part of this approach. Neo-liberal approaches can to some extent succeed in emptying Islamic ideas and norms and eventually produce some changes in beliefs and institutions, but this can take decades. Also, it is hard to predict how stable imitative atheism is in Muslim countries. Current transformations in Tunisia (but also in Libya (Libyan General, 2012)) are not very encouraging. Ruling classes in Muslim countries are not willing to quietly observe and accept the situation when “infidels” proselytize new ideas. This ruling class is well aware that these changes would cause its transformation and jeopardize its power.

Table 1. Examples of the Failed Paths to Democracy after the End of the Cold War

Source: Generated by the author.

Table 1 illustrates that American foreign policy in Southwest Asia and North Africa has not worked because factors outlined by Mosca have been ignored. An attempt to export the ballot box and democratic institutions plays a key role in most of these scenarios. At the same time, the citizens in Southwest Asia and North Africa have not received a satisfactory answer to the question: “What ends will the ballot box and other democratic means serve in Muslim countries?”

Germino, D. (1979) Modern Western Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Leroy-Beaulieu, A. (1991) L’Empire des tzars et les Russes. Paris: R. Laffont.

Libyan General National Congress elections results, 2012. Available at http://maplecroft.com/map-of-the-week/2012/30/.

Mosca, G. (1972) A Short History of Political Philosophy. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

Mosca, G. (1939) The Ruling Class (Elementi di Scienza Politica). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.