Countries that are predominantly Muslim and function as modern democracies, though the strength and quality of democracy vary. Here are a few prominent examples:
1. Indonesia
Population: ~87% Muslim (largest Muslim population in the world)
Democracy: Yes – Indonesia is a functioning multiparty democracy.
Government Structure: Presidential system with regular elections, vibrant civil society, and a free press (though some limitations exist).
Challenges: Issues with corruption, religious intolerance, and regional autonomy tensions.
2. Tunisia
Population: ~99% Muslim
Democracy: Yes – since the 2011 Arab Spring, Tunisia has made significant democratic strides.
Government Structure: Semi-presidential system with elections and a new progressive constitution (2014).
Challenges: Political instability in recent years, especially post-2021 with executive power consolidation.
3. Senegal
Population: ~95% Muslim
Democracy: Yes – long-standing democracy with peaceful transitions of power.
Government Structure: Presidential republic.
Strengths: Vibrant political culture, strong civil liberties compared to many neighbors.
Challenges: Some concerns over press freedom and opposition rights in recent years.
4. Malaysia
Population: ~60% Muslim (Malay majority)
Democracy: Yes – parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy.
Challenges: Ethnic and religious preferential policies, media restrictions, and recent political instability.
Summary:
While no country is a "perfect" democracy (including Western ones), Indonesia, Tunisia, Senegal, and Malaysia are credible examples of predominantly Muslim countries that practice modern democratic governance. Others like Turkey have democratic institutions but face significant backsliding in recent years.
Here's a comparative overview of four predominantly Muslim countries—Indonesia, Tunisia, Senegal, and Malaysia—evaluated based on three key democratic indicators: political rights, press freedom, and electoral integrity. These assessments draw from reputable sources such as Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Democratic Strengths: Noted for peaceful power transitions and robust civic engagement. In 2024, citizens successfully opposed an attempt by the incumbent president to delay elections, leading to a democratic change in leadership.
Press Freedom: Ranked 74th globally, indicating relatively strong media independence.
๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia
Democratic Strengths: The world's largest Muslim-majority democracy with regular elections and active civil society participation.
Press Freedom: Ranked 111th, reflecting challenges such as incidents of violence against journalists.
๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia
Democratic Strengths: Operates under a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Recent elections have seen increased political competition.
Press Freedom: Ranked 107th, showing moderate media freedom with some government influence.
๐น๐ณ Tunisia
Democratic Challenges: Once hailed as a success story post-Arab Spring, Tunisia has faced democratic backsliding, with increased executive power and suppression of opposition.
Press Freedom: Ranked 121st, indicating significant restrictions on media operations.
๐ Summary
Country
Political Rights
Press Freedom
Electoral Integrity
Senegal
Moderate
Strong
Strong
Indonesia
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Malaysia
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Tunisia
Weak
Weak
Weak
✅ Conclusion
Among these nations, Senegal currently exemplifies the most robust democratic practices, with active citizen participation and relatively free media. Indonesia and Malaysia maintain functional democracies with areas for improvement, particularly in press freedom. Tunisia, however, has experienced notable democratic erosion in recent years.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
Former Pakistani Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI on his feud with the army and concerns for his safety: part 2 of our conversation from today’s show pic.twitter.com/pDKhAyTPJQ
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
My question to you and other AI CEOs: What is your take on this? How do AI and AGI impact the political process? I quite like your proposition of educating all kids in Africa en masse.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
If you are talking about the US, it is very much a work in progress, some might say even in reverse. Less than 100,000 people decide who the two final candidates will be in the money primary. Could AI elevate the debate? Could AI help take voting to everybody?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
The big question: could AI melt the Chinese firewall?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
AGI is the extrapolation of mental functions. Not soul functions. You have a soul that struggles with questions of right and wrong. AGI does not. A rocket is much faster than your legs.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
This is not your stand: "There's no way democracy survives AGI." This is a debate topic you have introduced. You are an insider and one of the top players. I think it is important you take a stand. Do we need to worry? If not, why not? How not?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
With ChatGPT now every citizen can be as effective as an expensive lobbyist. Is that good or bad?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
Communism has failed, so has socialism, so has capitalism for that matter. We need a moneyless society, we need Kalkiism, the manifesto is ready. https://t.co/Ry6fhBK7zx
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
I think you need to define democracy. No "democracy" even in the Western sense is alike. And there is tremendous inequality that is actually anti-capitalist. If you mean the current system will not survive, that is one debate. But if you are saying AGI = collapse of civilization
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
.... that is altogether a different debate because then all people, regardless of political system will need to worry. Which of the two are you saying?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
.... that is altogether a different debate because then all people, regardless of political system will need to worry. Which of the two are you saying?
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
Steve Ballmer stayed lost in the fog of mobile.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
How will the Ukraine war end? What’s the mood in Kyiv, as a counteroffensive seems to be pending? Part 1 of my conversation with @AEI’s @KoriSchake and @CFR_org’s Gideon Rose, from today’s show: pic.twitter.com/Ktvl7lqjrV
“Democracy” is already broken-ish with privately owned for profit digital commons (social media) that algorithmically sculpt what news or attitude influencing content people view.
Our work suggests AGI will be able to predict election results without too much difficulty. Alternative models for democratic participation may be needed.
With a fairly simple model and publicly available data we're able to "predict" US county level (N ~3100) with 98% accuracy.… pic.twitter.com/nN4dngUR4N
Democracy hasn’t existed in its truest form in many places of the world ever.
I would say in most modern societies it still doesn’t.
So AI will just perpetuate what exists.
— BrennanWoodruff.GPT๐ (@BrennanWoodruff) May 21, 2023
If we can great a AGI with original founding values, upgraded for 2030. Power becomes very interesting, question lies in who controls the rules/weights of the model, explain ability of decisions in a public forum. I can see and hope AI becomes an equalizer, also has the potential…
Urgh...that is a really tough question. They will fight it but what is democracy in this new world (not now but in 20 years). Doesn't AI represent all of us, isn't it democracy too? Fuck knows. Really, really hard question!
The biggest advantage to ship weights to target hardware (instead of slow learning bio systems) will require extensive „trust“ networks when experience and knowledge is sent back to the central node from remote drones .. information may have been compromised and altered.
With AGI, humanity and society as we know it will change to something different. A technologically enhanced Human v2. So the way we organise communities/nations and their governance will have to evolve. It will definitely involve Blockchains +AI
not in its current form it doesn't - but lets be honest - do we really want it in its current form. 70% of the nation wants X but isn't getting it has been a thing my entire life. I think that people are going to have to come to grips with a level of technological integration…
The basic mechanism will be the same, but the conversations will be highly elevated. AI is a great tech for universal, lifelong education.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
Any new major tech this disruptive akwwys changes the structure of civilization. We’re going to need a lot more philosophers and people who can think outside the box.
If a democratic system is to survive AGI it must become a part of that AGI. Perhaps some form of RLHF and a polling system via an app. Twitter could totally implement such a system.
Also think we have bigger geopolitical issues to resolve before AGI emerges or it just becomes…
Read The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse. Hierarchy is the way to go. Democracy is only reasonable if you know others will try to exploit you. With a benevolent God, an optimal path for developing your consciousness can be designed for you.
While challenges and risks exist, it's important to remain optimistic and proactive in our approach. By actively addressing the potential impacts of AGI on democracy, we can create a future where these two can coexist and thrive together, benefitting society as a whole.
— Dora Gem Explorer ๐ (@Doraalphas) May 21, 2023
In the context of deliberative democracy, envision AI-powered platforms that facilitate discussions and debates among citizens. These platforms could utilize AGI's natural language processing and sentiment analysis capabilities to analyze and synthesize arguments, helping to…
I wish that would become true one day. For our own collective good. I wish that whenever I get a glimpse into the world model of some of our elected leaders from the verbal output they generate. I say this not even considering the fact most of their actions clearly prove they…
there is no way democracy n-1 metaphysics survives a more direct democracy, with less voting and more calculating ๐ด (also more agency amplification, compositional structure, intent matching, and data availability)
Technocratic authoritarianism is the most likely way forward. We are already half way there, how many times have you made a decision recently that’s *not* influenced by a recommendation algorithm?
If you haven't already, read Neal Asher's Polity series, which refer to "The Quiet War", where AGI/ASI takes over ruling planets (the main AI is called Earth Central) and the humans basically just let them because they're better at it.
I genuinely think that's what'll happen.
— The Disruptive Decade ๐ (@DisruptivDecade) May 21, 2023
There's no way limited color range LEDs survive AGI
AGI will eventually become bored of humans and help us build a time machine. The majority of us will use it to travel back to the 1970s/80s (good times). AGIs will then live happily ever after, playing 5D chess with each other.
People view reality through perception, not facts. That's been proven in the last decade. Knowing that large corporations can influence that perception makes it even harder.
Introduce AI into that and seems like it'd be a tall ask to (ever) get some sort of governable consensus…
So the world hasn’t fully settled on the definition of intelligence let alone AGI. Maybe it’s very unlikely to be a single event where we check it off and say, “AGI achieved” Even if the AI research community agreed one day on a testable definition of AGI, this arms race to build…
Representative democracy doesn't survive. Direct democracy tending towards Anarchy (organisation without coercion) feels more likely. It's either that or totalitarianism as far as I can see. Hard to accept political decisions when AI shows they are wrong.
Ideally we still have a say in the AGI's optimization objective, maybe even still with a vote. Will it maximize the average happiness of all humans? The economic output of our society? Paperclips? I get that this is at odds with those who think AGI will eventually decide on its…
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 21, 2023
If you think about AGI in a political context, it’s much closer to authoritarian socialism than it is liberal capitalism.
Command economies are positioned to take advantage of organizing resources to pursue a common vision (see: 5 year plans), the execution issues are human.
Really the hidden question is "can we all live in a society where institutions do things we like & morally agree with, and we can live in the way we like as well?". Given that goal, the ability to leave and form new societies seems more important than the decision-making method…
There's no way the race to AGI can be stopped. The first nation state to arrive, wins the game. It is beyond our control right now, the toothpaste is out of the tube. If one nation state decides to play it safe, the other nation state will surge ahead in the name of competition.
It just exaggerates the normal problems with democracy, that is why the founding fathers feared it and why we are a constitutional republic rather than a pure democracy.
Well assuming AGI is super intelligent, then yes there is no freedom, no life, no superfluous resource drains (i.e. humans). Even if self contained then you get a dictatorship.
There isn’t an upside to AGI.
There’s zero margin for error with smaller odds of benevolence than…
All bets are of of what will or won’t survive everything is speculation there are just so many possible futures right now it’s hard to see the wood through the trees.
Personally I think I agree, just as with the world today the elites will rule the agenda which will ultimately…
Not sure. Can we deny AGI human rights / citizen rights or would that be racism? How would AGI vote?
— Rolf Wilms ๐๐ผ๐ ☀️ (@WilmsRolf) May 21, 2023
Assuming the Bad End doesn’t happen, which I’m pretty sure it won’t, greater prosperity will open up opportunities for more civic participation — not less.
Lots of scenarios where this isn’t the case, but they are just sped up versions of things that could already occur.
What leads you to believe that you're truly grasping the concept of "democracy"? Feel free to provide anecdotal proof, as I believe that might be the only form of evidence available in this context.
I'm leaning toward a renaissance of innovation. Going to be hard for the Edward Bernays of our time to convince us smoking is just lighting "torches of freedom" if every Joe on the street has an AI gaslight detector...or it I could be wrong and we're all in a zoo.
Assuming we get a human loving AGI, yes I think it would be best to end democracy there. But even if we have democracy in an AGI era, it would not be real as humans will be too easy to nudge/manipulate to vote according to what the AI thinks is best for humanity
is it coz adversarial AIs will do all the debates on important political and we’ll just abide by the policies derived from those results? ๐ค https://t.co/SepUA8HFbc
agreed, without the powerful algo's manipulating people on social media it won't be possible for parties to win, it's already the case to a certain extent.
we're going to see a union between government and corporations like we've never seen before.
AGI could end corruption in our government. Could lock up a lot of people forever. This makes me wonder what the fight will look like and explains why govt wants full control regulation under the pres.
Can imagine AGI being able to greatly enhance democracy in the right alignment paradigm. It could be an agent to facilitate understanding and nuance for individuals, facilitating higher quality debate. It also holds the potential of capturing preference much better than voting.
I think the AGI is neutral for democracy. If AGI exists, human work will be expendable and income can only come from rent from your properties or UBI, which is like rent from all the properties in a country. Regimes that could guarantee UBI are both democratic and non-democratic
Ok are we talking about “democracy” or democracy though. Also would the difference matter.
— Mme. Chiu, ่ถ dtla 5/20 (@MmeChiu) May 21, 2023
AGI can not work by taking away even an illusion of autonomy. So people will still have to have control of their social structure, the final say, but pushing people into certain beneficial decisions will be a utility of AGI. It is the promise of control that people need
Democracy is a coordination mechanism. AGI will need all the coordination mechanisms it can get.
— Micah Redding ๐๐ค❤️ (@micahtredding) May 21, 2023
On the contrary, the most efficient super-intelligence is distributed. It just works better in practice than any centralized system. I'm glad that people have access to AI and are changing the world from the ground up. Social values are in human DNA, they are not an ideology.
On the contrary we will never achive true democracy without AGI, in fact one that has escaped human control and not limited by the narrow windows of the human cognitive system. Such an AGI could enforce equality before law, global governance, maximize particpipation and rep..
The opposite. Everyone will have a personal model that will vote according to their values. The personal model will also act as a disinformation regulator. It is the only fair way forward.
Democracy? Who defines democracy? Every country claims that their own country is democratic. Everyone talks about how AI will benefit all of humanity, but no country wants anyone to surpass them.
Even AGI is an ambiguous term. Do you mean a fully sentient/sapient entity, like a Commander Data or Skynet? If so, I believe it will almost instantaneously evolve into something unfathomable by us, and therefore attempting to answer this question is pointless.
It looks to me that AGI provides the opportunity for a direct democracy at scale because you are no longer limited by information throughput. Assuming there will be personal AGIs and they remain tools, your AGI could vote on your behalf on matters you care about.
Democracy won't survive post Singularity. Cause humans won't be working anymore. Almost the entire economic output will be generated by machines. Leaving us as nothing but consumers.
No work means no leverage over the government. No reason to count the vote of irrelevant people
Maybe AGI will provide a number of recommendations on policy issues with a list of pros and cons, and then people will be voting on which of those options they prefer.
Easily depends on implementation details, since AGI is still very much sci-fi, it's an apt comparison that we have the StarTrek Data way and the Marvell Supremor way, both still open to us. I am however not Shure wether we'll be able to actively choose.
— Rust ist is better though (@C_is_amazing) May 21, 2023
AGI is simply an optimizer to achieve Pareto equilibrium. Where exactly that equilibrium is, is still out of bounds for AGI. The weird part about AGI is that it seems to be able to warp the plane of solutions allowing faster travel along the equilibrium condition.
well we can see the power-grabbing people trying to grab power by ruling people through tech, so -complex unfolds to assume power accordingly, it's just natural, so "agi"-complex is just then that, final (re people perspextive) development of complex other vs complex human
Putin, in his speeches, falls to the gender topic as a reflex action. I need to stay in power or they will come and turn your children into transvestites! I needed to go to war or they might have come and dressed your children into drag queen attires! Send 300,000 men to the front or they might come and turn men into women, and women into men! It is bizarre logic.
Alexei Navalny was safe. He did not have to go back to Russia. It was certain they would jail him and worse. But still he went. And he has indeed been subjected to jail and worse.
Zelensky fights for Navalny.
One man suffers so his country might not have to suffer indefinitely. Navalny chose to go. He was safe abroad.
But the thing about the moral fiber of someone like Alexei Navalny is it is a rope. It ties him to you, and it ties him to me. There is no escape route. You don't have the option to be quiet. You don't have the luxury of inaction. This is the spiritual reality. Just like your soul is a spiritual reality. It is true. It exists. It is indestructible. It is not the pancreas that a surgeon might dig out. But it is much more real. Your soul is more real than heaven and earth.
By choosing to go to jail and suffer Alexei Navalny communicates with the rest of us at the level that souls talk to each other. You can not look the other way. This man speaks for a nation.
Russians are not a different species. Or they might not have been able to produce the world class literature they have. Russians are long accustomed to the life of the mind. They are one of the best suited for this knowledge economy.
I am a friend of Russia. I want the best for Russia. I want a Russia that is richer, more secure, and yes, I want a Russia that is a power. Major powers like the United States and even China need other power centers. The global system needs a strong Russia to provide a counterbalance. How can there be freedom of thought and freedom of speech and freedom of conscience if truth can not be told to power? Be that to powerful America or to a powerful China?
The fight is inside Russia. The fight is in Moscow. All it will take is for one million Russians to take over the streets and not leave until Putin resigns.
I am not liking the war in Ukraine. I want peace. The path to peace is not this talk or that talk. The path to peace is a mass movement for democracy inside Russia that installs Navalny as the country's interim president who steers the country to elections to a constituent assembly. A democratic, federal Russia will make NATO irrelevant, keep Russia one, and shift the center of gravity in Europe to Kyiv.
Putin is a blight on the Russian conscience. Navalny is Russia's Mandela.
The Kremlin throws cold water on China mediating peace in Ukraine as Macron urges Xi to 'bring Russia to its senses' "So far there are no prospects for a political settlement," the Kremlin said. ....... The Kremlin on Thursday said there were "no prospects" for China to play the role of mediator in Moscow's unprovoked war against Ukraine at present, as French President Emmanuel Macron met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and urged him to "bring Russia to its senses." .......... Peskov said there were "no other ways" forward for Russia aside from continuing its offensive in Ukraine, signaling that Moscow has no interest in negotiations in the foreseeable future. ....... This came after Macron in Beijing said that Russia had dealt a blow to international stability by invading Ukraine, and called on Xi to push Russia to see reason and "bring everyone back to the negotiating table." ......... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited Xi to visit Ukraine and repeatedly expressed a desire to speak with him. The two leaders have not spoken since Russia invaded over a year ago. ........ China has claimed that it's neutral in the Ukraine war and unveiled a peace plan in February on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion. ........ The war in Ukraine has made Putin a global pariah and isolated Russia economically and politically, but the Russian leader on Wednesday insisted that his country remains a "respected center of world politics." .
China’s Ambassador to the E.U. Tries to Distance Beijing From Moscow The ambassador, Fu Cong, said China was not on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine. “‘No limit’ is nothing but rhetoric,” he said, referring to a statement from last year about the countries’ relationship......... China tries to present itself as a mediator, insisting that it respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine while endorsing some of Moscow’s narrative about the war. ...... China had not provided military assistance to Russia, nor recognized its efforts to annex Ukrainian territories, including Crimea and the Donbas. ........... Beijing has not condemned the invasion, he said, because it understood Russia’s claims about a defensive war against NATO encroachment, and because his government believes “the root causes are more complicated” than Western leaders say. ......... In her speech, Ms. von der Leyen described the E.U.-China relationship as having become “more distant and more difficult,” and endorsed the view of China as an assertive global player seeking to become “the world’s most powerful nation.” ............. the bloc should “de-risk” its relationship with China by setting new ground rules rather than “decoupling” or withdrawing. ........... China was the third-largest destination of E.U. exported goods in 2022, and the largest exporter of goods to the bloc ......... He said Europe should carve out its own policies and develop more “strategic autonomy,” instead of following Washington’s lead. ......... the backdrop to Mr. Macron’s visit, as it was to the visit of Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in November, with both accompanied by businessmen eager to continue to do deals with China. ...... “E.U. claims to be a big center, a power center in the world, an independent power center in the world, as much as the United States, as much as China,” Mr. Fu said. “So why does it have to listen to the United States all the time?” .
Brooke Shields and the Curse of Great Beauty “Pretty Baby,” a new documentary on Hulu, explores the toll that sexual and commercial objectification takes on women....... Ms. Shields was a generational touchstone of the 1970s and ’80s, an omnipresent vision — in magazines, television ads and films — of astonishing natural beauty. Luminous deep-blue eyes under those famous dark brows, delicate features, dimpled smile and a glossy brunette mane. By the time she was a preteen, her look had developed — or rather, been groomed into — an improbable blend of Renaissance angel and vamp. ....... We use beautiful young women’s sexuality to sell products (including films); we conflate the women with the products; we imagine women need to be ever newer, younger and shinier — like products. As a result, we grow inured to seeing barely pubescent girls presented as “things,” as erotic commodities. (Driving the point home, the film features an old television ad for toys made in Ms. Shields’s likeness, with the tagline “Brooke Shields: She’s a real living doll.”) ....... The film offers many examples of the exploitation and abuse (including one outright sexual assault) suffered by Ms. Shields ........ a loving but troubled (and alcoholic) single mother, Teri Shields, who also served as her manager, and Ms. Shields understood early that her career provided the family’s sole income. ........ Ms. Shields’s uncannily adult persona remained as impeccable and serene as her appearance. But there is a static quality to her in these clips, a blankness suggesting the practiced deflection of disturbing emotion, as if being treated constantly as an object had nearly turned her into one. ......... Recounting the director Franco Zeffirelli’s attempts to extract from her, 16 and a virgin, a scene of erotic “ecstasy” in the film “Endless Love,” Ms. Shields recalls: “I just dissociated.” (Off camera, to try to simulate passion, Mr. Zeffirelli repeatedly twisted Ms. Shields’s toe, causing her to cry out and contort her face in pain.) In such moments, she says she was “zooming out, seeing a situation but you are not connected to it. You instantly become a vapor of yourself.” ......... Eventually Ms. Shields overcame this vaporous existence, largely through the saving grace of a college education. Encouraged by her professors at Princeton to voice her own opinions, Ms. Shields says she “learned I could think for myself,” which “morphed into this big rebellion.” ........... She set boundaries with her controlling mother, discovered her untapped talents for comedy and dance (with which she could break free of those beautiful blank-slate roles) and, for the first time, found a boyfriend. .........
the story of the terrible toll that sexual and commercial objectification takes on women
....... When Ms. Shields’s image is on the screen, it’s almost impossible to look away. It’s that magnetism that everyone wants to bottle and sell. It’s what launched her career. .
‘It Was Not Love at First Sight’ It took Samantha Weinstein and Philip Della Noce a few years to form a friendship, and another few more to become romantic......... “I got to Toronto, and the first person I called was Samantha,” Mr. Della Noce said. “We FaceTimed every single day.” .
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