COMMENT History has it that the Arab Spring started in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on Dec 17, 2010, when Mohammad Bouazizi set himself alight. It sparked an unrest that led to a revolution that spread across Egypt, beginning on Jan 25, 2011, with a massive mobilisation in Midan at-Tahrir that resulted in the fall of Hosni Mubarak on Feb 11.

Obviously, the spark for the Tunisian revolution that spread to Egypt and elsewhere was demonstrative of the dual action of economic deprivation and political repression in the region. Bouazizi was every man's example of the problems plaguing the region: the economic hardship on one hand and the harrowing abuse he suffered at the hands of the authorities who took away his only income.

In understanding the relationship between the economic and democratic demands, a poll conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) showed that economic grievances rated the highest in people's mind.

Most people - 63 percent - cited unemployment as the biggest problem facing Egypt. Another 30 percent cited poverty and only six percent cited the lack of democracy and free elections. A Pew Research Center poll also showed a similar trend, where economic woes were put ahead of democratic demands.

It was clear that the desire to build a socio-economic system based on dignity, liberty and equity was the main demand of the protesters in the entire region and what lead them to fight for this change.

In a global environment of neo-liberalism the Arab revolutions entered, spontaneous popular revolts against these policies were catalysed by the socio-economic conditions and political repression of their respective states. Democracy in itself does not necessarily guarantee the redistribution of wealth or a decrease of inequality within a country.

As we have seen, the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) are committed to a "free market economy with a strong private sector" and emulating the Turkish model. Many members of the Brotherhood have large business interests and state policy was designed to enable the private sector and favour pro-market measures.

Not safe in hands of Muslim Brotherhood

Al these were exacerbated by a situation in which the international financial institutions are recommending the continuation and expansion of neo-liberal policies in Egypt. It can be safely concluded that the demand for social justice is unlikely to be safe in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Democratic reform alone will not tackle the issues of participation, namely the socio-economic deprivation that makes engagement with democracy impossible for many, or overcome all of the limitations a national democracy faces in the global economy.

Tackling socio-economic issues such as poverty and inequality is of paramount importance for a robust and developing democracy. Hence, improving the socio-economic conditions is the most practical and long-term answer to the revolution.

Obviously, taking steps towards economic reform and the improvement of living conditions must be directly linked to the redistribution of income and wealth, and resetting the economy to be more accommodative to the 99 percent Islamists should not be complacent only with their rhetoric that everything will be settled when an Islamic state is established and syariah is implemented.

The real challenge out there is whether they have a just economic policy that is equitable to all, irrespective of race and creed, and that they uphold the true spirit of democracy and respect individual rights, tolerance, gender equality and pluralism.

The way ahead

History has revealed two major trends: the failure of capitalism to provide a decent standard of living for the majority of people, and the spontaneous eruption of resistance to the inequality and injustice that this entails.

Political justice in a modern, democratic society is about equality and liberty. If either the liberty or equality of its citizens is out of balance, justice is compromised. Equality means fairness in the full sense of the word.

No one should be disadvantaged by bad luck and no one should be privileged due to good luck. At the end of the day, equality derives from fundamental human moral worth - we all have an equal right to a chance to live the good life.

Only when we have this basic resource equality requirement fulfilled can we exercise freedom in any meaningful sense.

John Rawls in his book "A Theory of Justice" describes the importance of achieving justice in a society. Justice for Rawls is distributive.

This does not mean that distributive justice must be about rectifying inequalities through redistributing income. Rather, distribution is about primary goods defined as "what persons need in their status as free and equal citizens, and as normal and fully cooperating members of society over a complete life" .

In other words, these are things like rights, opportunities, liberties and self-respect. Unequal distribution of wealth is not bad in and of itself, but bad because it leads to inequality of the basic goods needed to live a good life. Therefore, we can assess whether a state is just or not by assessing the distribution of basic goods.

Wide gap in inequality is detrimental

We have seen that the Arab Spring came about not because of an "Islamic resurgence" but due to the economic constrains and an unequal distribution of economic growth.

Vast empirical research has shown that the wide gap in inequality is not only detrimental to future growth of a country but also damaging to its stability. Plato's Republic has raised the issue of unequal distribution of economy and reminded us of its consequences.

A fatal disorder will ensue, should limits on wealth on both sides are not set and result in widening the gap between the haves and haves not. Social harmony can only be attained through an equal society. Otherwise, chaos will ensue, as has been repeatedly shown from our history.

"Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another." - Plato, Book IV: The Republic

Part 1: Islamic economy - left of centre

DR AHMAD FAROUK MUSA is a director at the Islamic Renaissance Front and an academician with Monash University.