Are ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’ Western colonial exports? No. Here’s why.
By Loubna El Amine
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/04/02/are-democracy-andhuman-rights-western-colonial-exports-no-heres-why
It would have been odd for protesters in Hong Kong to advocate for the Chinese government’s return to Confucian rituals, or for crowds in Cairo’s the streets to demand a return to the Islamic dhimmi system, which left minorities free to pursue private religious practices while being otherwise excluded from political life. These scenarios are implausible, if not impossible, not because Confucian rituals and the dhimmi system are ineffective in themselves but because they don’t match modern realities. To fight a modern state, to constrain rulers and protect minorities, one needs more appropriate tools.