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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Investigations And Challenges Chapter 15: The Mutual Relationship between the People and the Government (Part 6) A Review of the Discussion in the Previous Session The subject of discussion during these many sessions was the relationship between the people and the government in the Islamic system.

The discussion reached the point where we said that all the human systems can be divided into two groups: (1) statist (government-oriented) and (2) populist (people-oriented). The group of systems which regards the government as the sovereign and master of the people holds that the government has the right to reign over the people while the people are duty-bound to unconditionally accept the orders of the government.

In arguing for this theory, some reason out that since the human nature is a fox-like nature (the same famous statement of Hobbes that “Man is the fox of another man”), there must be a strong and powerful body to prevent rebellion and these foxes’ cutting one another’s throat. The argument of some others is that the order and security of the society cannot be established without such a power. So, the government has to impose order upon the people through naked force and other means.

The people, in turn, have to obey such a power. Other arguments to prove this theory have also been advanced. Others (whose theory is the same currently well-known one), contrary to the view of the first group, believe that the people are the sovereigns while the government is the servant.

In their opinion, the government must be totally at the disposal of the people and obey whatever their order; the government has to implement every law they approve; and whomever the people elect to implement the law has the right to implement the law. This is the same system which is called “populism” or “democracy.” As in the past, some try to say that there is no other way than these two: either statism or populism.

They add that statism is a reactionary affair related to the period of slavery, and as we live in the modern period, we cannot accept such a thing. Therefore, there is no other way but to accept populism. Populism means that people choose whatever law they like without any condition or inhibition. If there is any necessary condition in enacting the law, people have to enact it. As such, all the state power must be ascribed in a sense to the people and be chosen by them.