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Viewing all posts tagged "economy"
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An introduction to a paper I never wrote
Timur Kuran has written extensively on so-called Islamic economies and political Islam. Just as the “five pillars of Islam” are meant to be followed by every practicing Muslim, the “three pillars of Islamic economy” are meant to be followed by every practicing Muslim system of production, distribution and consumption. The first, behaviour norms with regard to economic decision making, are derived from the holy texts. The second, zakat, the traditional sub-governmental religious tax, is also mandated by the holy texts and is considered by some to be the basis of Islamic fiscal policy. Finally, the traditional-religious prohibition of the charging of interest, Islamic economists would argue, is the centerpiece of Islamic monetary policy.
This trio has been recognized and defended not only by theologians and other non-economists, by also by scholars from a range of social scientific disciplines. This three-pronged blueprint for Islamic economies has “always been there” — what I am concerned with is the extent to which changing economic conditions in the Middle East since the Second World War caused a revival in the literature on Islamic economic theory.
By examining the contextual base of Islamic economic theory, in other words, by focusing on the material wealth and social standing of the literature’s intended audience, I hope to come away with a better understanding of the popularity of this discourse. I hope to see why it has become so common to apply Islamic religious principles to social, political, and economic institutional models. I also hope to gauge the degree that deteriorating economic conditions in parts of the Middle East, coupled with the mass production of economic theory “couched in the language of Islam,” contributed to the attractiveness of political Islam, whether secularist, populist, or militant.
One problem of Islamic economics is determining what exactly constitutes just and correct behaviour. Are this year’s wages Islamically fair given last year’s inflation? Does Islamic economic theory account for the fluid realities of a globally interconnected marketplace? Kuran writes,
The ambiguity inherent in the Islamic norms suggests that the actions one takes may subject one to charges of opportunism by other equally pious individuals who happen to interpret the relevant norms differently.
The obscurity of the norms also suggests that they are susceptible to modification over time.
The problem of ambiguity spans all Islamic social disciplines. It seems that merely attaching the word “Islam” to any institution, whether politics, economics, history, or, indeed, religion, opens it up to innumerable interpretations, each potentially as logical as the next.
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Our transition towards a hydrogen-based economy has begun…
SINGAPORE – January 4, 2009. “A hydrogen station in every home” is a futuristic vision that is about to become reality this week as Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies unveils what could be its biggest breakthrough to date: a small home hydrogen refueling and storage solution that could begin our transition to a hydrogen-based economy.
In addition to making many new fuel cell products possible, the refueling device enables a lower cost, scalable, and consumer-centric hydrogen supply model which eliminates the dependence on large-scale fueling infrastructure investments. Horizon’s game-changer innovation can unlock the age-old dilemma over which comes first: clean cars, or clean fuels.
“We no longer need to rely on nationwide networks of hydrogen fueling stations to enable large-scale fuel cell commercialization,” comments Taras Wankewycz, one of the company’s founders. “Horizon is initiating a transition that places consumers in the driving seat. Thanks to our innovation each household can gradually become a major part of tomorrow’s hydrogen fuel supply infrastructure.” Read the full press release.
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”This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy.
Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.
The NY Times reports: The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries.
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America will want to be on the right side of history
Good, thoughtful post from a fellow Tumblrer:
The emotional chords will always be tugging for the U.S. to forcefully and vocally throw their support behind pro-democracy movements across the globe, even if it’s impractical, counterproductive, or largely useless (as was the case with Iran in the summer of 2009). And it’s important to respect state sovereignty and recognize the limitations outside forces can have compared to the citizenry themselves. Keep in mind that when the Communist bloc was falling apart in 1988, George H.W. Bush was criticized for his reserved public statements in the wake of ‘The Third Wave’ of democratization.
Meddling in internal state affairs can have a counterproductive effect, as I suspect if the U.S. wades too deep into the Tunisian affair, it will have the effect of empowering the Islamist party in a way that benefits neither the U.S. nor the largely secular and economic-reform minded Tunisians who initiated the overthrow in the first place.
But in Egypt, where in El Bareidei you have a ready-made leader of the democracy movement who has credibility in the West, where Hosni Mubarak’s declining health and fast-approaching death was inviting fears of instability even before this week’s events, and where the U.S. has a personal responsibility to the situation because of Egypt’s role as a client state over the past several decades, it’s clear that the U.S. needs to be on the right side of history, and not alienate the legion of young Arabs ready to embrace democracy and secular reforms (keeping in mind that with the Muslim Brotherhood now involving itself in the demonstrations, Islam will be a necessary part of a new government or Constitution) by turning its back on them when they are openly seeking out U.S. support.
This isn’t really even about starry eyed idealism, about supporting the good guys, though on a moral level it would be hard to ignore the irony of one former Nobel Peace Prize winner (Obama) turning his back on the pro-democracy demonstrations of a fellow former Nobel Peace Prize winner (El Baredei). It’s about recognizing that the youth bulge in the Middle East has real consequences for the political makeup of the region, and the U.S. needs to adapt and react accordingly. In this case, it means realizing that pursuing a unilateral policy of propping up authoritarian leaders who pledge to be our ‘allies’ in the war on terror is not a viable path forward.
My guess/hope is that Obama and Clinton are nudging Mubarak behind the scenes to give it up and peacefully leave power. If there is to be a new wave of democritization in the Middle East, let us hope Egypt is the 2nd domino to fall.
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