His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary spiritual leader (Imam) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and founder of the Aga Khan Development Network, on Thursday outlined the need to recognise the fragility of democracy as a form of governance, its virtues in advancing human development, and the necessity for a better understanding of the Islamic world, said a press release.
At a keynote address of 2004 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference, he said: "Democracy can fail anywhere, at any time, in any society ...for it is self-evident, in Europe and across the globe, that the existence of political parties and elections do not alone produce stable governments or competent leadership."
"Intellectual honesty and greater knowledge are essential if current explosive situations are to be understood as inherited conflicts and - rather than being specific to the Muslim world - driven by ethnic and demographic difference, economic inequity and unresolved political situations."
"Leadership and Diversity" was the theme of the conference which was attended by over 200 future leaders from across the country in the presence of Canada's Governor-General Adrienne Clarke.
"The new issue that demands the attention of the international community," said the Aga Khan, " is the need to create stable states with self-sustainable economies and stable, inclusive forms of governance." Describing "a world of increasing dissension and conflict," he attributed the cause in significant measure to "the failure of different ethnic, tribal, religious, or social groups to search for, and agree upon, a common space for harmonious co-existence."
The Aga Khan observed that humanities curricula in educational institutions in the West rarely featured great thinkers and scientists of the classical age of Islam such as Avicenna, Farabi and al-Kindi, Nasir Khusraw and Tusi.
The Aga Khan said he was optimistic, citing the example of effective and participatory civil society institutions that had been created through the efforts of the Aga Khan Development Network.-PR
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