Dignity, Legitimacy and Efficacy

BEIRUT -- Libya these days reminds us that all Arab countries in political transition must answer how they will deal with the men and women who held senior posts in the former regimes that they overthrew. The issue has both practical and political implications. Countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya that are working hard to move from their former conditions of political autocracy and socio-economic stagnation and mediocrity to a new era of stability, democracy, growth and social justice need governments that are both efficient at delivering the citizens’ basic needs, while also responding to the powerful demand that those who govern be men and women of integrity, credibility and, above all else, legitimacy. How to strike the critical balance between legitimacy and efficacy is a question that will challenge Arab societies for months to come.

Tunisia and Egypt threw out their former dictators swiftly, and those societies had no serious opportunity ahead of time to prepare for the transition to a new governance system. The Egyptian armed forces took control of the government, with broad popular approval, because they were trusted, and because there was no real alternative at that dramatic moment of change last February. Libya is a different case, as will be other countries that experience revolutionary changes in the year ahead. It is a sign of realism and responsible maturity that rebels and revolutionaries who now challenge the old orders on the street are also working in their homes and hotel rooms abroad to chart a transitional process to a new democratic era. How that process happens, in terms of efficiency and credibility, will be a crucial determinant of the condition of society in the years immediately following the transition.

We have a better idea now of how this process should work, because of the Tunisian and Egyptian experiences. Both of those were striking for revealing how strongly the citizenry felt about removing the vestiges of the old regime from the new government system. In both countries demonstrators came back to the streets several times to demand successfully that lingering officials from the Ben Ali or Mubarak eras be removed from the transitional governments. This clarifies a powerful and politically critical dimension of the transformations now taking place in several liberated Arab countries, which mirrors the reasons why the citizens have changed the governments of three Arab countries already and challenge several others: The intangible element of “dignity” is more important to most ordinary citizens than consistently pertinent material issues like jobs or wages.

In one Arab country now in the throes of a domestic revolt, I have learned from insiders there, an unpublished survey that was commissioned a few months ago to help the leadership gauge the true range of sentiments among the demonstrating citizens revealed that “dignity” overwhelmingly was the single most important reason why people were on the streets demanding regime change, with material issues very far behind. This is now also clear from the three North African experiences, and will remain operative as transitions take place to democratic governance systems. Getting the balance right between “dignity” and material well-being will be a critical determinant of how smoothly societies transition from the dark old days of the past to something more promising and humane. 

The Transitional National Council in Libya has now moved to Tripoli from its Benghazi birthplace, and will have to deal with this issue quickly as it changes from a daring rebellion to a ruling government. If a single word captures the complexities of this challenge, it would be the word “legitimacy.” This means that men and women who served in the old regime could continue to hold positions in the new system, but only if they were seen to be legitimate in the eyes of their own people. Such legitimacy reflects several elements: whether officials were technocrats or ideologues; whether or not they were involved directly in security abuses and excesses; whether they express genuine regret or contrition, if appropriate, for their previous roles; whether their positive personal core values were seen to persist in the face of the brutality of the regimes they served; and, whether their service to the state was seen as a reflection of their sense of national duty or a more crass desire to share in the spoils of dictatorial power.

Not all former officials in the deposed governments are crooks or criminals. Some of them, like former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil who heads the transitional council in Libya, embody the triumph of their nationalist and democratic values over the burdens of their past complicity in Gaddafi governments. Countries that pay attention to the centrality of the legitimacy of their new government officials will have an easier time addressing the enormous challenges they face in rebuilding governance and rekindling socio-economic growth, but, most importantly, giving living expression once again to the ordinary citizen’s sense of their own humanity.