Conciliatory Democracy: The Path to Political Stability
Alsir Alsayed
As part of the “Reading for Change” series issued by the Sudanese Democratic Group, specifically the Democratic Thought Unit, supervised and edited by Professor Shams al-Din Daw al-Beit, the booklet “Conciliatory Democracy… The Path to Political Stability” by Professor Tayeb Zein al-Abidine has been published. The booklet consists of 46 pages in medium format and is part of other booklets issued by the group. It expresses the idea on which the project is based: to contribute to conveying an alternative intellectual system to the public, replacing the current system whose components have failed to confront the emerging challenges, deal with current developments, and find solutions to societal problems.
The booklet begins with a striking key sentence: “Since independence, Sudan has been searching for a stable political system for about sixty years, in vain.” It then delves deeply into reading this long journey to prove what that striking key sentence carried, presenting its proposal to adopt Conciliatory Democracy in the medium term in Sudan, ranging from twenty to thirty years, to ensure the continuity and stability of democracy for a suitable period during which people become accustomed to accepting the peaceful transfer of power.
The professor critiques the governance systems in Sudan and presents his proposal through his approach with seven main titles, including the introduction, conclusion, and six subsidiary titles. The main titles are: “Sudan and the Search for Political Stability” (the introduction title), Problems of the Democratic System in Sudan, What is Conciliatory Democracy? Conciliatory Democracy and Islam: Why Conciliatory Democracy in Sudan? Legal Measures for Implementing Conciliatory Democracy, and finally the Conclusion. The subsidiary titles, branching from the main title, “Legal Measures for Implementing Conciliatory Democracy,” include Governance Structure, Legislative Authority, Executive Authority, Judicial Authority, Civil Service, and Law Enforcement… The booklet overall argues that the military regimes that ruled Sudan for four decades were the main cause of Sudan’s instability and regression, as their characteristics, as stated in the booklet, begin with obstructing the constitution and the rule of law and end with comprehensive and severe violations of human rights. The booklet also indicates that they all adopted military action as a solution to the problem of the South, which eventually seceded during the Salvation regime.
In critiquing the democratic systems that governed Sudan and specifying the reasons for their repeated collapse, the booklet lists many reasons, perhaps the most important of which are the nature of the Sudanese political parties and their political culture, which made them weak in committing to the democratic approach within their party apparatus, and their conviction in the political activity freedom of competing parties. This is in addition to the regional and international external factors and its role in encouraging and supporting military coups. Regarding Conciliatory Democracy, the booklet, to demonstrate its suitability for the Sudanese reality, even if temporary, after defining it and confirming its harmony with the teachings of Islam, identifies its pillars as follows: a broad government alliance representing all groups with significant weight in parliament, broad proportional representation accommodating various political and social groups in the distribution of parliamentary seats and civil service positions, regional independence through a federal system or similar, and the right of minorities to appeal in significant administrative and political decisions that concern them.
The booklet is rich in details that show the difference between Conciliatory Democracy and traditional democracy and also demonstrate their suitability for Sudanese society, with its racial, cultural, and religious diversity and long experience in conflicts among these groups.
