Spring 2010 - Interpretation

Book Review: Orientalism and Islam 3 3 5
Of the six philosophers examined in individual chapters in
this book, Burke is the only one who dissociated the Orient and Islam from
despotism. His thought on despotism and British rule in India is not found in
a systematic treatise, but is derived from parliamentary speeches on the East
India Company and in the impeachment trial which he spearheaded against
Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of India. Burke claimed that its
charter gave the Company the right to govern but not arbitrary power, and, as
its rights and privileges were a trust, the Company must be held accountable
to the British Parliament, and “it must be judged by the standard of what is
good for the Indian people” (113). Burke challenged the argument, which to
him appeared as a fabrication in order to justify arbitrary colonial rule, that
despotism is the customary rule in Mughal India. He claimed that Islamic
polities were not governed arbitrarily or despotically, thanks to the moderating
influence of Islamic laws, which were binding on everyone. Curtis takes
issue with Burke’s analysis of Mughal Indian history: “Burke’s picture of an
idyllic period [before colonial rule], however, does not coincide with general
historical analysis...” (125).
In tracing out Tocqueville’s thoughts on the Orient and
French colonialism in Algeria, Curtis broaches a somewhat different intellectual
figure than the author of Democracy in America. “Tocqueville, the
constant and ardent proponent of universal freedom, cannot easily be reconciled
with the advocate of colonization in North Africa” (175). Here is
not the tolerant liberal but “a trenchant patriot, nationalist, even imperialist…”
(144). Tocqueville supported French colonization in Algeria for three
reasons. First, France would enhance its international stature as a first-rate
power. Second, an international military campaign would elevate the spirits
of the French people and help them stand against encroaching decadence and
the softening of mores. Third, France would help gradually develop Algeria.
Although Tocqueville believed in the superiority of Western values and
civilization, he found racial theories to be harmful and was himself a member
of the French Association for the Abolition of Slavery. He believed that
France could hold on to its Algerian possessions through the establishment
of a European immigrant colony. In this context, he saw violence as a sad
but inevitable aspect of colonization. “For Tocqueville the balance between
idealism and humanity, on the one hand, and concern for French national
interest, on the other, vacillated” (174). Hence, despite brief references to the
Arabs’ unpreparedness for self-rule due to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire
and Islam—two sources of despotism and social immobility according