{"id":12907,"date":"2025-10-21T12:05:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%82-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%82-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%ad%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%88%d9%8a-%d9%88%d8%a3%d8%b4%d8%b1\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T19:35:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:35:35","slug":"comment-on-a-comment-a-dialogue-between-hossam-badrawi-and-ashraf-radi-on-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/comment-on-a-comment-a-dialogue-between-hossam-badrawi-and-ashraf-radi-on-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cComment on a Comment\u201d \u2013 A Dialogue Between Hossam Badrawi and Ashraf Radi on Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

I imagined the philosopher Socrates<\/strong> returning to our world, coming to converse with me and a group of young dreamers of tomorrow \u2014
and I used his own words to express his philosophy.<\/p>\n

Socrates is the true founder of Greek philosophy, the teacher of the wise Plato, who in turn was the mentor of the great Aristotle.
The central principle of Socratic philosophy was the pursuit of knowledge \u2014 for he believed that true knowledge cannot be built except upon the study of how it is acquired.
He held that morality itself cannot stand without knowledge, since virtue is founded upon understanding.<\/p>\n

Socrates believed that the true dignity of the soul springs from knowledge \u2014 the soul\u2019s rightful inheritance.
He combined rational physics with mastery of debate and dialectic.<\/p>\n

Socrates began our imaginary dialogue by saying:
\u201cExplain to me what democracy means in your time, so that I may understand the logic behind what has transpired through the ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied:
Human and electoral rights in Western democracy emerged gradually during the mid-20th century.
They expanded step by step according to the demands of electorates:
workers gained them before farmers,
women after they entered factories to replace men during wars,
and Black citizens in the United States after the state was compelled to grant them equal participation in society and the military during the two world wars.
Nations at large obtained them only through mutual pressures and class struggles that eventually produced political arrangements acceptable to all sides.<\/p>\n

As for human rights<\/em> recognized in principle\u2014not as a pragmatic byproduct of political balance\u2014they are represented by what I call human democracy<\/em>, which cannot exist without equality, individual responsibility, and governance built on consultation and constitutional limits.
These, we advocate as universal principles\u2014not as reactions to electoral realities or wartime necessity\u2014but as genuine faith in justice in governance, acknowledging the rights of citizens regardless of their education or social class.<\/p>\n

One young dreamer said:
\u201cBut when we look at Western democracy as practiced, especially in developing countries, we find contradictions between philosophy and reality \u2014 the excessive powers of governments, social injustice, and the widening gap between educated elites and the poor. The better educated, wealthier, and more connected gain opportunities, while true equality of opportunity disappears. Thus, human development goals often fade away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy,\u201d he continued, \u201cmay have succeeded partially in Europe and North America, but it has failed in poor and developing nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young woman added, while Socrates looked astonished:
\u201cThis realization led us researchers to provoke public reflection online with a philosophical question:
\u2018How can those chosen by the people oppress the very people who elected them\u2014while knowing that the people can change them at will?
And how can officials, paid by the people and owing their positions to them, treat their citizens with contempt\u2014unless the system itself is unfit and unbalanced?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another young man said:
\u201cThe people are stronger than their rulers\u2014without revolutions or protests\u2014if they simply use their electoral power at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Socrates frowned slightly and asked:
\u201cBut can the ignorant, the poor, and the enslaved truly choose freely?
They remain subject to those who know, who give, and who own.
Are you still debating the same question after 2,500 years?
We, too, criticized this form of governance long ago \u2014 and it would be foolish to ignore those warnings today.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled:
\u201cIn the past, when I discussed the ideal state, I once asked my companion Adeimantus:
\u2018Who would you rather have steer a ship \u2014 a random passenger, or a trained and experienced captain?\u2019
When he chose the captain, I applied the analogy to governance and asked,
\u2018Then why allow any ignorant man to steer the ship of state?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy as you practice it,\u201d Socrates continued, \u201cis rule by the unqualified \u2014 letting the mob choose the captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

I interjected to ease the tension among the audience:
\u201cSocrates\u2019 objections to democracy as we understand it now can indeed be found in his dialogues.
He often spoke of how few people possess the virtues necessary for good governance, and even fewer truly understand them.
He certainly did not consider the general populace wise enough to manage state affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A philosophy student asked:
\u201cSo this logic still lingers \u2014 should governance be by absolute democracy where everyone votes, or by the democracy of the elite \u2014 the knowledgeable and experienced?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear,\u201d I replied, \u201cthat Socrates, one of history\u2019s greatest minds, favored the democracy of the wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another young student asked:
\u201cDid later philosophers share this opinion?\u201d<\/p>\n

I answered:
\u201cYou can see Plato\u2019s influence clearly.
In parts of his Republic<\/em>, Plato described democracy as one of the final stages in the degeneration of the ideal state \u2014 a stage so corrupt that the people eventually beg for a dictator to save them from the chaos of democracy.
For Socrates and his student Plato, democracy inevitably produces tyrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young woman smiled and said:
\u201cWell, that seems to match the experience of many developing countries \u2014 replacing one dictator with another, using the very tools of democracy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Socrates said:
\u201cHave you not yet learned that democracy is the failed form of rule by the masses?
Even in my time, I saw Athens drifting from its noble constitution as set by Solon \u2014 and though democracy was better than theocratic tyranny by priests, it still led to decay.\u201d<\/p>\n

I added:
\u201cThe belief that democracy carries within it a fatal flaw has persisted \u2014 even among liberal thinkers.
Voltaire, for instance, though a staunch defender of freedom of religion and expression, once told Catherine the Great of Russia:
\u2018Nothing great was ever achieved except by the genius and resolve of one man struggling against the prejudices of the multitude.\u2019
For him, liberalism was entirely separate from democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Socrates turned to me and said:
\u201cHumans have always invented many names for the same behaviors.
As the sophists did in my time, you now argue\u2014and even kill each other\u2014over definitions whose meanings you haven\u2019t agreed upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied:
\u201cWise as ever, Socrates.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued:
\u201cRemember, the name itself is not the essence.
If you called a rose by any other name, it would still smell as sweet.
Seek the meaning behind the words, and give them grounding in your minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young man asked:
\u201cIf democracy is so flawed, why do we still practice it? Why repeat the mistake and defend it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Socrates answered:
\u201cI have always been concerned about the danger posed when the uneducated and easily led masses gain control of the state.
That danger, combined with the power granted to officeholders by those very masses, is what made me welcome death itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added:
\u201cThere is but one good \u2014 knowledge; and one evil \u2014 ignorance.
Education is democracy\u2019s only hope.
A people who understand what qualities make a true leader can tell the difference between a manipulative actor and a genuine statesman.
That understanding marks the line between an effective democracy and the nightmare I suffered \u2014 and which I see you suffering now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voter must understand enough to choose rightly who represents him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have reconsidered,\u201d Socrates continued,
\u201cand concluded that even if a ruler is educated and worthy, he must still be changed after some time \u2014
for otherwise, he will become a tyrant.
Such is human nature: when power, control, and wealth are combined in one man, he inevitably turns corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am astonished,\u201d he concluded, \u201cthat you are still arguing over matters I thought would have been resolved in your \u2018future\u2019 \u2014 which is, to me, your history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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He is the former head of the Gynecology Department, Faculty of Medicine Cairo University. He conducted his post graduate studies from 1979 till 1981 in the United States. He was elected as a member of the Egyptian Parliament and chairman of the Education and Scientific Research Committee in the Parliament from 2000 till 2005. As a politician, Dr. Hossam Badrawi was known for his independent stances. His integrity won the consensus of all people from various political trends. During the era of former president Hosni Mubarak he was called The Rationalist in the National Democratic Party NDP because his political calls and demands were consistent to a great extent with calls for political and democratic reform in Egypt. He was against extending the state of emergency and objected to the National Democratic Party's unilateral constitutional amendments during the January 25, 2011 revolution. He played a very important political role when he defended, from the very first beginning of the revolution, the demonstrators' right to call for their demands. He called on the government to listen and respond to their demands. Consequently and due to Dr. Badrawi's popularity, Mubarak appointed him as the NDP Secretary General thus replacing the members of the Bureau of the Commission. During that time, Dr. Badrawi expressed his political opinion to Mubarak that he had to step down. He had to resign from the party after 5 days of his appointment on February 10 when he declared his political disagreement with the political leadership in dealing with the demonstrators who called for handing the power to the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, from the very first moment his stance was clear by rejecting a religion-based state which he considered as aiming to limit the Egyptians down to one trend. He considered deposed president Mohamed Morsi's decision to bring back the People's Assembly as a reinforcement of the US-supported dictatorship. He was among the first to denounce the incursion of Morsi's authority over the judicial authority, condemning the Brotherhood militias' blockade of the Supreme Constitutional Court. Dr. Hossam supported the Tamarod movement in its beginning and he declared that toppling the Brotherhood was a must and a pressing risk that had to be taken few months prior to the June 30 revolution and confirmed that the army would support the legitimacy given by the people","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hossambadrawi\/","https:\/\/x.com\/HossamBadrawi"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12921,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12907\/revisions\/12921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hossambadrawi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}