التحديث السياسي وسؤال المرجعية: مدخل قيمي

Abstract

This study is based on the values approach to assess the legitimacy and political performance
of the modern state. This approach assumes that members of the political community, governors
and governed individuals, are united by a set of common reference values. Accordingly, the
ruling power acquires its legitimacy only to the extent that it expresses the identity of the society
governed by it. From this perspective, this study contributes to understanding the state of conflict
existing between the state and society in the Arab world because of the contradictions between
the modernist reference officially adopted by the state and the religious and moral authority of
its people, which occupies marginal positions outside decision-making circles and centers of
influence. This study also attempts to monitor some of the negative phenomena resulting from
this contradiction, such as the double values, the division of collective consciousness, the miscarriage
of symbolic capital of society, the disintegration of the state and society, security imbalances,
and the risks of sliding into civil war.
In this context, the study examines the reciprocal relationship between modernization in its political
and cultural levels and the role of modernist elites in providing the ideological cover required
to legitimize the state’s abuse of its citizens. It also examines the role of some international centers
and organizations in transforming modernist elites into influential lobbying groups in political
decision-making and which are now in control of shaping the future of the cultural and political
landscape of the region. With regard to the mechanisms of employment, the study endeavors
to monitor the blasphemy of modernist elites in weakening the sanctities of society and destroying
its moral values, which constitutes a serious violation of national consensus and a threat to
peaceful coexistence among the members of society. This moral bleakness, which has received
the official support of the modern state and which is putting the lives of Arab societies at the risk
of collapse and total bankruptcy, calls for accountability of the political regimes that govern these
societies in light of the code of honor that must govern the relationship between the state and
its citizens.