You can reconcile Islam and democracy?

The political events in Muslim countries pose again the question of whether democracy is incompatible with the Muslim faith . The intemperance and the activism of groups such as Boko Haram , totally incompatible with a secular vision of the exercise of power, the continuing instability in some countries of the Mediterranean in the south, such as Libya and Egypt, which have to resort to military solutions , as negative in terms of rights , to counter the religious encroachment on the political level , the strategy of absolutist countries , such as Saudi Arabia, which carry within them a kind of feudal power , founded on wealth and on the application of fierce religious precepts , but, at the same time , seek to influence the opposite , not to be overwhelmed by the new religious movements neighboring countries , the emergence several doubts about the coexistence between Islam and democratic practice . The first thing to consider is the apparent lack of weight of moderate Muslims , the most prone to establishing a fruitful relationship with the application of a democratic power . Crushed between a secular party emerging , but very far from being the majority, that could be the ideal partner with which to undertake a common and far more powerful fundamentalist Islamic moderates , while counting among its ranks members of the society of their famous countries fail to make inroads into the large part of the population, which, when viewed in an election , he chooses the more fundamentalist movements . The poor penetration into the society of the countries through which , for example, the Arab Spring is due to differences in wealth and income, which have a vision, maybe not completely deformed , not conforming to the requirements of the majority of the population. There is to be considered that movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood , have played a crucial role in providing material to the population , earning the confidence of the lower classes . The religious character , then , has always remained in the background, as the only alternative to the psychological dictatorial power , even in those countries that , thanks to the presence of authoritarian regimes , were able to contain the Muslim presence on their nations. Discarded, therefore , the possibility of a mediation of the moderates , you must take into analysis the possible influence of the laity. But here the situation seems to be even worse , often the distance of the leaders of secular formations , due to thin due to the presence of dictatorships , has not allowed a sufficient organization and a consequent penetration of the social fabric , leaving an important role, but all in all marginal , the secular forces on the internal political plans . This analysis , which covers both moderate Muslims, that the laity can be applied , with some distinctions , but for general pathways in the different countries where the intrusion of religious radical Muslim groups on the political level is present. Certainly there are other factors that contribute to this approach : the presence of belonging tribal , often mixed with the religious element , the distribution of wealth, often centralized in the hands of small groups or families , linked to the representatives of the Muslim clergy , which allows a consensus management certainly not negligible. The most viable alternative , on a practical level but not on the moral , has been represented so far by the presence of the armed forces , who have supported the role of the only effective counterweight to the dominance of religion. Often the starting positions seemed to be conciliatory with the democratic aspect , since the intervention of the armed forces seemed to be stretched to the breaking of religious absolutism , but with the passage of time the events flowed in the establishment of martial law , softened sham election . This scenario has been to Egypt and seems to be the one where you start Libya. Faced with this panorama , the Western states must rethink their relationships, often necessary for economic reasons, with the Muslim states . If you tolerate dictators first round , which ensured a control on religious movements and so on extremists , now the situation is that the government of the Arab countries there are often members of this religious political party . The hope of creating Western-style democracies has been frustrated and the reasons why it is not successful must be investigated to avoid the aggravation of relations and the establishment of a modus vivendi , but this is not enough : you have to go over and try to understand the reasons for disqualification to the bottom. On the one hand there was the prospect of a change of address by the new generations, often it was found that the increase in adhering to fundamentalist groups , also used in military actions outside of their own country , is given in brackets of lower age ; this complicates even more the possibility of establishing democratic values, when there has been a positive response to the new generations . At the moment the dominant aspect just seems to be a lack of convergence between Islam and democracy , but this should not cause Western countries to stiffen their behavior , but look for new ways of development and dialogue to promote democratic development in Muslim countries.