Globalization, Multi-lateralism and the Islamic World

The notion of multi-lateralism is embedded in Islamic theory and practice. Islam viewed the Islamic Ummah as an entity of individuals, peoples, and even countries characterized by special relationships based on Islamic solidarity, but did not require all Muslims to live in single Islamic state. When Islamic states multiplied by the beginning of the second Abbaside era in the middle of the ninth century, it was quite possible for Islamic jurists to accept such multiplicity and to think of modalities of regulating multi-lateral relations among Islamic states. In this respect one may refer to jurists such as Al-Boghdady, and Ibn Taimi’ya in the Islamic medieval political through, and Al-Kawakeby, Mohammad Abdou, and Ibn Badis in the contemporary one ⁽¹⁾. In fact, from the middle of the ninth century, the Khilafah (Caliphate) system was turned into a form of regulating relations among Islamic peoples and states including those who do not live directly under the rule of the Khalifah.

As the Khilafah system was ended in 1924, and the Islamic world failed to re-establish it during the Cairo conference held under the auspices of Al-Azhar in 1926, and as new Islamic states appeared in the international system, the Islamic world began to think of new modalities to manage multi-lateral relations among Muslim peoples and states. As the new Islamic states concentrated their efforts on the tasks of state building, all the multi-lateral projects were conducted on non-governmental bases. In this respect, one may refer to the General Islamic Conference held in Al-Quds in 1931 which issued a charter establishing permanent institutions for the Conference, and the Islamic Congress held in Geneva in 1935 and attended by representatives of various Islamic communities living in Europe. Due to the opposition of European forces to any form of institutionalized relations among Islamic peoples and countries these conferences failed to achieve their objectives. The advent of the Second World War brought all these attempts to an end.

It was not until 1954, when the notion of inter-Islamic multi-lateralism was revived. Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia formed the “General Islamic Conference” in March 1956 after two years of deliberations. The Charter of the Conference focused mainly on the role of the member states to disseminate the world of Islam and established a permanent secretariat in Cairo. The experience of the Conference was short lived. In 1958 it was dissolved and turned into an Egyptian institution. Since, Islamic states focused on establishing national institutions to function in the Islamic world. Perhaps, the most important of which was the establishment of the world Islamic League by Saudi Arabia in 1962. These projects cannot be viewed as multi-lateral enterprises as they function according to the domestic law of each state.

It was not until 1972, when the notion of Islamic multi-lateralism was strongly revived. In that year, 30 Islamic states adopted the Charter of the “Organization of the Islamic Conference,” (OIC) which has become the major governmental multi-lateral institution in the Islamic world. Islamic jurists and scholars also initiated other minor non-governmental institutions. However, their influence was limited.

The Islamic experience in multi-literalism during the second half of the twentieth century occurred under conditions of the East-west Cold War and bipolarity. In fact, the Cold War delayed the establishment of the OIC for almost ten-year (1962-1972). Cold War issues also dominated the agenda of Islamic multi-lateral institutions. The end of the Cold War and the rise of the processes of globalization generated major forces, which were deeply felt in virtually all Third world regional systems including the Islamic world ⁽²⁾. It influenced most political and economic processes in these regions including their approaches to multi-literalism. The objective of this paper is to review the responses of the Islamic world to the rise of globalization at the multi-lateral level, assesses their likely impact on the ability of the Islamic world to cope with the pressures of globalization, and the suggest few strategies to maximize such ability, We will begin by reviewing our conceptual approach and them proceed to review the main responses of the Islamic world including their assessment.

Professor of Political Science, Egypt