Globalization, Multi-lateralism and the Islamic World

Multi-lateral Non-governmental Institutions of the Islamic World

These trends were reflected in the Islamic world in the form of establishing various multi-lateral institutions based on Islamic concepts. In fact, the Islamic world has witnessed the establishment of such institutions in the 1940s and 1950s; the most important of which has been the International Organization of the Islamic Brothers. In the 1960s, other more open institutions were established such as the League of Islamic Universities, the Conference of Afro-Asian Islamic Scholars, and the Association of Islamic Youth in North America. With the advent of the age of globalization one can detect a noticeable increase in the process of building multi-lateral institutions based on Islamic concepts. This was facilitated by the interplay of two major factors, namely, (I) increase in the economic power of some Islamic states and groups either as a result of economic development or rent increase. This enable some Islamic states to sponsor and support some multi-lateral NGOs, (ii) the process of Islamic revivalism, which created the need among Islamic groups to establish cross-border linkages especially as the impact on cultural globalization was increasingly felt and attack on Islam in the West became more visible.

One of the most important instances of new multi- lateral NGOs in the Islamic world is the World Populist Islamic Command (Al-Qiyada Al-Sha`abiya Al-Islamiya Al-Alamiya). The Command is an elaborate multi-lateral institution established under Libyan supervision. Thirty-five institutions and individuals singed the Charter of the Command issued in 1989. The Charter outlined the objectives of the Command as establishing Share institutions in the Islamic world, achieving equality, justice, and solidarity among Islamic, establishing a unified Islamic entity in the field of international relations, mobilizing Islamic capabilities to build a new Islamic civilization, developing a new Islamic model of development, confronting the Zionist project in Palestine, and supporting Islamic communities and minorities all over the world. The Command holds a General Conference every four years, and is supervised by an executive Bureau and a general secretariat based in Libya. Its membership is open to all actors (groups, parties, and individuals) who endorse the Charter (12).

So far, the Command has held three General Conference meetings in Baku (1992), Colombo (1996), and Bamako (2000). It focused mainly on resolution of disputes among Islamic states, and institutions, supporting activities of Islamic institutions all over the world, holding cultural and academic seminar on various Islamic issues teaching Arabic to non-Arabs, supporting Islamic refugees disseminating the call of Islam.

The Command has been an effective institution in bringing together various Islamic NGOs to handle in open forum Islamic issues, which resulted from the global changes. It has been able to support Islamic communities in different countries. Although it does not emphasize on revolutionary changes, it has suffered an image problem because of its close relations with Libya. The Western anti-Libyan global campaign has led many Islamic countries and institutions to refrain from participating in its activities.

• The Conceptual Framework
• The Organization of the Islamic Conference and Globalization
• Neo-regional Enterprises of the Islamic World: The Developing-8
• Multi-lateral Non-governmental Institutions of the Islamic World
• Islamic Countries and non-Islamic Neo-regional Institutions
• Islamic Countries and the Reform of Global Multi-lateral Institutions
• An Assessment of the Multi-lateral Responses of the Islamic World to Globalization
• Endnotes

Professor of Political Science, Egypt