Introduction
The Bahá'í approach to government or collective action is a
vast subject that cannot be adequately dealt with in a short paper.
Accordingly, this brief presentation will be confined to a few highlights,
which might be of special interest in the context of the general discussion
this weekend.There are at least three dimensions to the
Bahá'í plan for the establishment of a permanent world peace
based on justice, or in Bahá'í terminology, "The Most Great
Peace." The first dimension is the creation of a new race of men: the
adoption of the highest ethical standards by every man, woman, and child on
the planet. It is irrational to suppose that a just society can be achieved
unless the people of that society are themselves just individuals.
A second dimension to the Bahá'í plan are broad policies to
ensure that every person in the world has equal opportunity and
encouragement to develop fully his or her physical, mental, and spiritual
potential. One important aspect of this issue is the abolition of extremes of
wealth and poverty within nations and between nations. Another is the
elimination of racist and other prejudices that crush the human spirit.
A third dimension of the plan is a new system of government based on
spiritual values and a world perspective. It must be clear by now to every
thinking person that the present political system corrupts even the noblest
of people and is not capable of dealing with the major issues that face
humanity today. The most important characteristic of the present political
scene is its division into some 170 sovereign states, the so-called
Westphalian system.1 Many of these states
have authoritarian governments that exploit and oppress rather than serve
their peoples. Even more appalling is the fact that the system is so out of
step with the needs of the time that it risks the destruction of most, if not
all, of mankind for causes, which, by comparison and in the perspective of
history, can only be called frivolous. Establishment of a permanent peace
based on justice is, in the Bahá' í view, only possible if we
move to an entirely new system of government.
The Bahá'í Community has already established a new system
of government to direct its own affairs. This system, known as the
Bahá'í Administrative
__________
1. After the Treaty of Westphalia (1648),
which is credited with formally recognizing that there is no superior
authority to the territorial ruler. (See, for instance, Lynn H. Miller, Global
Order [Westview Press, 1985].
)
36
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM
Order,2 is offered to mankind as an
alternative model to conventional methods. Ultimately, it is envisaged that
this model will evolve into a full-fledged system featuring a world
legislature, a world executive backed by a world police force, and a world
judiciary, with subsidiary branches at national and local levels in every part
of the world. Meanwhile, Bahá'ís are acquiring, within their
own communities, experience on how to work their radically different
system of managing the collective affairs of society.I propose to discuss
the Bahá'í Administrative Order in two parts: first by briefly
recapitulating its main features, and second by suggesting some aspects
that make it uniquely fitted for
the needs of the day. There are three key elements in the
Bahá'í approach to government: a world structure; an
electoral system, which puts emphasis on spiritual and collective qualities
rather than on individual self-interest; and full, objective consultation as
the basis for decision making.
Three Principal Elements of the Bahá'í Administrative
Order
Structure
The administrative structure has two parts: an elected wing responsible for
running the affairs of the community, and an appointed wing responsible for
monitoring the community's spiritual health. The elected wing is a three-
tier structure with local spiritual assemblies to manage the affairs of local
communities, national spiritual assemblies to coordinate the affairs of each
cultural or national grouping of communities, and finally a Universal House
of Justice to give guidance and direction to the whole world community. The
other wing of the structure consists of Continental Boards of Counsellors,
appointed by the Universal House of Justice, which in turn appoint
subsidiary bodies at regional and local levels. Members of these boards are
carefully chosen for their spiritual qualities, abilities, and loyalty to the
Faith. Their role is to observe and to advise the elected wing but not to
intervene directly in community affairs.
Elections
The electoral system has both direct and indirect elements. The Local
Spiritual Assembly is elected annually at a local convention by direct
secret ballot of all adult members of the community. The National Spiritual
Assembly is elected annually at a national convention consisting of
delegates elected on a regional basis by the national community. The
Universal House of Justice is elected every five years by an International
Convention composed of the members of all the national spiritual
assemblies. Each body has nine members, and to be valid, each ballot cast
must list nine names. All members of the local, national, or world
community, as the case may be, who are in good standing are eligible for
election, except for members of the boards of counsellors
and
__________
2. The Administrative Order is only one
aspect of a Bahá'í program to promote the "Lesser Peace," an
interim stage on the way to "The Most Great Peace." Other aspects of that
program include the community's development of personal standards of
ethics, which will attract others giving service, e.g., economic and social
development projects; support for the United Nations, and the recent peace
statement addressed to the peoples of the world by the Universal House of
Justice.
A
Just System of Government: The Third Dimension to World Peace
37
their auxiliary boards, and in the case of the Universal House of Justice,
women.3 All qualified adults have a sacred
duty to vote unless there is a special circumstance as happens for instance
when a move into a new community makes it impossible to have an informed
view. To preclude divisiveness, nominations, forming of parties, and
campaigning are all strictly forbidden practices.
Consultation
At all levels of the Bahá'í administrative structure,
comprehensive consultation is practiced with a view to increasing the
probability of arriving at the best decision. The first principle of
Bahá'í consultation is universal participation so as to benefit
from the widest range of experience and wisdom. It is the responsibility of
all members of the body involved, not just the chairperson, to see that
everyone present has an equal opportunity to contribute. Everyone is
encouraged to speak frankly, though with calmness and courtesy.
The second principle is detachment and objectivity. The discussion should
follow a logical sequence: prayer to set the tone and perspective, and then
the normal steps of scientific enquiry: determining the exact nature of the
problem, ascertaining the relevant facts, agreeing on the spiritual or
administrative principles involved, a full and frank discussion, the offering
and voting on a resolution, and finally action to put the resolution into
effect. All should feel that the ideas put forward belong to the community,
and not to the person who first presented them; indeed, a participant may
well speak against his original suggestion if he subsequently hears a
superior suggestion.
The third principle is the need for unity in carrying out a decision. Decisions
can be made by majority vote, but Bahá'ís are encouraged to
strive for one approved unanimously. If a decision is by majority vote, a
person in the minority should nevertheless wholeheartedly support the
implementation of the decision and should not campaign to stop it, as this
would only cause dissension and undermine the unity of the community,
which is held to be far more essential than avoiding a possible short-term
mistake. If proper consultation procedures have been followed, the chance
that a mistake has been made should be low. In any case, such mistakes can
always be reversed if further consultation is brought about as a result of
proper appeal procedures, first through the body that made the decision
and then, if that fails to bring satisfaction, through higher bodies.
Comparison with the Conventional Political System
Structure
I should now like to comment on each of the three main elements of the
Bahá'í administrative order: the structure, the electoral
system, and consultation, with stress on those aspects that seem
particularly important in the context of the needs of the time. Perhaps the
most important feature of the structure of the Administrative Order is that
it is unified on a world scale. There is a single supreme world body, the
Universal House of Justice, responsible for policy
__________
3. 'Abdu'l-Bahá stated that the reason
for this rule concerning the Universal House of Justice would become
apparent in the future.
38
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM
direction and coordination of the affairs of the whole community. This model
structure contrasts sharply with that of conventional politics, which is
divided into some 170 independent nations in frequent conflict with one
another.
A second important feature of the structure is that the short-term, day-to-
day administration of the community is undertaken in the perspective of
long-term principles and policies for the welfare of all mankind, which are
laid down in the writings of the central figures of the Faith and which are the
ultimate source of authority for all the institutions of the
Bahá'í administrative order. The long-term perspective is
quite different from that which prevails in conventional politics, where to
our immense cost nearly all concern is centered on short-term material
gains for sectarian interests.
A third feature worthy of note is that, though the Administrative Order is
unified at a world level, it is essentially a highly decentralized system with
most of the day-to-day affairs of the community being handled at the local
level where the decision makers are in constant communion with the other
members of the community. Conversely, it is typical of the political system
that the majority of important decisions are highly centralized at the
national level, and there is little real contact with ordinar
y people.
A fourth feature is that the structure is simple and can therefore be put
into practice in every type of society, from the most complex and
sophisticated to those where the majority is illiterate--a fact already
demonstrated in many places. There is a contrast here again between the
successful experience of the Bahá'í community building up
from the grass roots level, and for instance, the attempt in recent decades
by Western democracies to impose from above their complex
parliamentary systems on societies that have quite different traditions of
government.
A final feature of the structure, which should be noted, is that the
Continental Boards of Counsellors and their assistants, who form the second
wing of the administrative order, keep a close watch on the spiritual well-
being of all aspects of the community. This function is a vital protection for
any society and illustrates the fact that the Bahá'í approach
has realism as well as idealism in that it recognizes that the highest
standards will take time to achieve. In conventional politics such appointed
guardians of the public good can degenerate into bullying commissars. This
has not happened in the Bahá'í community because the
counsellors are chosen for their spiritual maturity as well as their other
abilities, because their role is purely advisory, and because they are
excluded from office in the elective wing of the order and thus have no self-
interest to promote.
Elections
Perhaps the most important feature of the electoral system is that it does
not permit the rise of individual leaders, who throughout history have
caused great harm to society because of "hubris" and conflict between
selfish individual interest and the welfare of society as a whole. Society has
always been in great danger from kings, dictators, priests, and even
powerful politicians in democracies. Some of the features of the
Bahá'í Administrative Order that preclude the emergence of
individual leaders are (i) the ban on nominations and campaigning for
elections; (ii) the indirect election for the two higher echelons of the
administrative structure, which makes widespread publicity about
A
Just System of Government: The Third Dimension to World
Peace 39
individuals much less necessary than would be the case for direct
elections;4 (iii) the teaching that electors
should vote for those who have spiritual qualities (such as humility and
self-effacement) as well as administrative skills and a record of service;
(iv) the fact that decisions taken by elected assemblies are confidential
with regard to the voting of individual members; and finally (v) the fact that
members of elected assemblies only have special status in the community
when functioning as an assembly and not when speaking as individuals.
Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the chairperson of a spiritual assembly
is mainly a coordinator and does not use his or her position to gain more
influence in a discussion than other members of an assembly. In the case of
the Universal House of Justice, the chairman is changed frequently, and his
name is not made known to the world at large, so as to avoid the possibility
of anyone being construed as "president" of the Bah&aacut
e;'í world.
A second important aspect of the electoral system is that it encourages
diversity of background in those who are elected to governing bodies. The
requirement that each elector vote for nine names focusses attention on
the individual elector's responsibility for the make up of the total assembly
rather than on selecting a few individuals, and this focus is inevitably
affected by the Bahá'í teachings on unity and diversity: the
greater the diversity, the greater the richness of the community, just as a
garden with a multitude of different flowers has greater beauty than one
with flowers of just one type or color. A good example of such diversity was
the 1985 National Spiritual Assembly of the United States which had, in
terms of race, four blacks, two whites, one Asian, one Native American, and
one Persian; and in terms of sex, four women and five men. They come from
a diversity of regions and occupational backgrounds. This result, which is
perhaps unique for an elected body in the United States, was achieved
without any sort of quota system. The tendency to diversify is
strengthened by the directive that in the event of a tied vote, "priority
should unhesitatingly be accorded the party representing the minority."
Finally, it might be observed that the voting system has the potential for
eliminating that age-old problem of what is the correct balance between
continuity and change in government, i.e., how to adapt to changing
conditions without the turmoil and inefficiency of sudden breaks in
continuity. Predemocratic systems always had the great risk of misrule
when an individual or group held power for a long period of time and then of
violent conflict when the ruler died or the regime became intolerable.
Present-day democracies frequently do not achieve the right balance
either and suffer when there are long periods of dominance by one political
party, or when there is a complete change in government personnel
following a major shift in power. Government by assembly, frequent
elections, and the absence of subgroupings are all features of the
Bahá'í Administrative Order, which tend to create situations
in which continued membership of the governing body is balanced by new
membership.
Consultation
The Bahá'í system of consultation has several features of
immense importance for effective government. First, it encourages
consideration, before a
__________
4. Put another way, rational election of the
higher echelons would almost certainly not be possible if there were to be
both direct suffrage and a ban on campaigning.
40
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM
decision is made, of a wide range of options including those that are based
on the experiences and view of those who in conventional society are rarely
heard: the poor, minorities, women, the uneducated. Only too often, as many
of us have witnessed personally, such breadth of discussion acts as a
healthy corrective to the views of the forceful, the rich, and the educated
who are sometimes too self-absorbed and not rooted in the hard realities
of life. It is sometimes argued that government by a strong dictator is more
efficient than democratic government. In the short run, it is true that one
man may be able to decide on a course of action more quickly than a group,
but in the longer run it is the depth of consultation on the
Bahá'í model that is likely to lead to the most efficient
results.5 It might be noted in this context
that an assembly of nine (which is the present Bahá'í
practice) is close to the optimal size for efficiency because it is l
arge enough to allow for a wide spectrum of opinion and small enough to
allow all members to give their view in a relatively short period of time.
A second important feature of Bahá'í consultation is that it
involves constant contact between the ruling bodies and the wider
community, particularly at the local level where the community meets
together on a regular basis at the Nineteen-Day Feast, at which time the
assembly members hear the ideas and views of the other members of the
community. The Feast is also a time when the assembly reports on its
activities and plans, and thus in effect makes itself accountable on a regular
basis.
Of course, a perfect working model cannot be created overnight, and
Bahá'í administration is still only at the beginning of its
evolution. It takes time for Bahá'ís to shed all of their "old
world" habits and ways of thinking, and there is no doubt that there are
many consultations that do not follow the ideal model. On the one hand, in
cultures where ordinary people have been traditionally told what to do by
others, it is not easy for them to change their ways and start taking
responsibility, through the assembly, for their own community affairs. In
addition, there are some countries where the membership of the National
Spiritual Assembly does not change for years at a time except when there
is death or emigration, and as a result fresh ideas tend to wither in the face
of exhaustion and lack of new experience. On the other hand, most of us who
have been in the Bahá'í community even a few years, soon
become aware from personal experience just how much quiet progress is
being made and how the administrative system ultimately brings out the
best in the individual and vice versa, in what might be called a progressive
spiral. One of the most tangible signs of such progress has been the
increasingly active role of women on local and national spiritual assemblies
in countries where women have traditionally had a subservient role in public
affairs--a development that has been reported to the United Nations in
connection with the International Women's Decade.
Summary
To summarize, the Bahá'í Administrative Order has a series
of features that would be essential in a government system charged with
maintaining a lasting
__________
5. Thus, in an experiment carried out at
Harvard University in the 1960s, it was observed that a group of non-
Bahá'í students trained in the rudiments of
Bahá'í consultation performed significantly better than other
groups working on the same problem.
A
Just System of Government: The Third Dimension to World
Peace 41
world peace. First, it focusses attention on the long-term spiritual and
material interests of all the peoples of the world (with particular attention
to the interests of the weak and poor), rather than the short-term material
interests of powerful sectarian groups, which is the normal goal of
conventional politics.
Second, by putting authority in the hands of assemblies, democratically
elected in accordance with spiritual principles, it removes the threat of
individual leadership, which since the beginning of civilization has brought
corruption and placement of individual interest before that of the
community supposedly being served.
Third, the principles of consultation and decentralization ensure that the
government is continually in dialogue with the whole community, and thus
makes decisions on the basis of the widest range of experience and
knowledge. Its whole character is one of organic unity with society and,
indeed, with the pulse of creation. If the Hegelian model were to be applied
to the situation, it might be argued that the thesis is the traditional
autocratic form of government with legitimacy flowing from the ruler
(God's annointed) down to those who are ruled; that the antithesis is
democracy in which legitimacy flows upwards from the people to their
rulers; and that the synthesis is the Bahá'í Administrative
Order, in which there is a combination of both
spiritual authority coming from God, through the teachings of his
Manifestation, Bahá'u'lláh, to the Universal House of Justice;
and a highly democratic process of collective responsibility and universal
participation in election and consultation, which closely unites institutions
with the community they serve.