Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East

Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East is a book by Elza Maalouf, first being published in October 2014.

Concepts

The book presents a framework for the natural evolution of governance. It is based on the value system approach and field applications of several Social psychology and Conflict resolution theories. The author bases her book in part on the extensive work of Dr. Clare W. Graves and the theory of Spiral Dynamics, and on her own experience as the founder and CEO of the Center for Human Emergence Middle East, a think tank that frames political and economic issues facing the region through the PRiSM of value systems. She builds upon her in-depth knowledge of the history of the Middle East its politics, religions, and business practices, and her decade and half long experience with Graves’ successor, Dr. Don E. Beck (who wrote the foreword for the book).

Maalouf devises a comprehensive new model for governance called Functional Democracy and applies it to create a value systems based narrative for the future of the Middle East.

Functional Democracy

The model relies on the "eight known levels of existence" of the Beck/Graves developmental framework. The author delineates each level and its characteristics, values, and needs and combines her rigorous analysis of different political models with the Memetic profiles of the culture to arrive at an appropriate model for governance. Functional Democracy contains six distinct levels of political leadership and structures:(pg. 234)

• The Benevolent Monarchy
• The Ordered Autocracy
• The Multiparty Democracy
• The Social Democracy
• The Functional Democracy
• The Holonic Democracy

Maalouf claims these are hierarchically-ordered systems with Holonic Democracy being the highest aspiration for governance and that any given culture must pass through every stage on its journey towards more sophisticated systems of governance. (pg. 58) Based on her new theoretical framework Maalouf demonstrates how any political system other than a modern form of Benevolent Monarchy or a Ordered Autocracy will be a detriment to the Middle East. She uses the example of how the one-person, one vote system the West imposed on Iraq and the Palestinian Territories were cultural mismatches, and why Egypt's stages of development are more aligned with the values of an Ordered Autocracy than with a liberal Social Democracy.

Framing Middle Eastern political history through Memetics and values systems

In the first four chapters of the book Maalouf chronicles her experience with the use of the value systems approach in different parts of the Middle East. She incorporates into her narratives the various applications of Social judgment theory, Realistic conflict theory, and the adaptation of the Assimilation Contrast Effect criteria to the value systems framework creating what she and Beck call the vACE model.

Throughout the first half of the book Maalouf relies on these hybrid principles to demonstrate how five hundred years of rule by the Ottoman Empire contributed more to arresting the culture’s development than it did toward its advancement. The author also shows how governing systems imposed by colonial powers created more political division resulting in the failure of nation-states in the region. She profiles several Arab personalities who rose to power during the post-colonial Arab nationalism period like Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of Egypt and Michel Aflaq the ideological father of the Ba'ath Party. Maalouf then offers analysis on the failure of Arab Nationalism that resulted in dictatorships. This is a developmental stage, she argues, that fills the social gap in the absence of robust institutions.

The critical role of the Indigenous Intelligence

The author introduces the concept of Indigenous Intelligence and its importance in the overall design of any political system in the Middle East. She describes this new form of intelligence as the "multidimensional capacity of an individual or a group in a specific society to interpret its value systems complexity to non-natives". (pg. 109) The author argues, that based on her experience Indigenous Intelligence Experts (IIEs) are the building blocks of the Functional Democracy model. They provide actionable data that outsiders often miss. This critical data is then given to the Integral Design Architects (IDAs) who advise the political leadership in charge.

The Build Palestine Initiative

In chapter 5, Maalouf chronicles her organization's five-year involvement in finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She details the painstaking efforts her organization undertook to create the "Memetic Profiles" of both Israel and Palestine. This was the first time the value systems framework was applied to large-scale change in the Middle East. In this chapter, Maalouf echoes what her partner Don Beck affirmed many years before that any peace accord will end up in failure unless and until the asymmetry between the two cultures is addressed. (pg. 172). The Chapter concludes with a narrative on the Summit to Build Palestine, where many Palestinian IIEs gathered to design their future state

Designing for the 21st century Arab Renaissance

The last two chapters of the book serve as a guide to the future of the Middle East. The author focuses on corporate practices and how the meme of "prosper and let prosper" (pg. 197) can act as a catalyst for the emergence of the region. Maalouf details how she pioneered the use of Integral theory and the principles of Spiral Dynamics in some of the most innovative Middle Eastern corporations. She calls on the corporate culture to adopt practices that focus on developing the human resources of the region to help it move beyond the Age of Oil.

In the last chapter of the book, Maalouf embarks on an ambitious region-wide project that identifies areas needing structural reforms and the creation of new institutions geared towards helping the region join the global economy. (pg. 202). A key factor to securing a 21st-century Arab Renaissance is the creation and the sustained presence of a formidable middle class. On the final pages of the book, Maalouf outlines the different strategies for business and political leaders in the region to achieve this lofty goal.

See also

• Middle East
• value system
• Clare W. Graves
• Spiral Dynamics
• Don Beck
• memetic
• Ken Wilber
• Integral Theory
• governance
• Social psychology
• Conflict resolution
• systems thinking
• Age of Oil
• history of the Middle East
• Palestinian Territories
• Egypt
• Israel
• Gamal Abdel Nasser
• Michel Aflaq
• Social Democracy
• Ba'ath