Fahad Shulemi Quotes
We want traditional change—not transformational change.
This statement is very revealing in that it illustrates the attitude of the establishment of most developing nations. Traditional change is OK as long as it is not does transformational—ie as long as it does not make any meaningful changes. But modernization requires transformational change; without it there is no major reform and all institutions and power structures remain in their positions.
Fahad Shulemi, Kuwaiti Security Analyst & Government Spokesman, Debate, Al Jazeera, April 21, 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There are a few modern progressive conservatives who believe this point of view, but most generally resist change.
1st Baron Macaulay. See {620691} for a related idea.
Many conservatives of the 19th Century honestly believed that for a well-grounded man, it was impossible to make a radical moral or cultural change. Froude thought that it was but should be done very carefully and sparingly. See {636915}.
This is the ultimate extreme of conservatism which literally means to conserve what is. Salisbury argues that even if you truly believe that the status quo is bad, you should keep it as the risk of change and unexpected consequence is so great that it is not worth the risk. Interestingly, this is the same mode of thinking which created the command in the Koran for Muslims to live with a terrible Caliph or ruler (unless he is a blasphemer or heretic) rather than risk the instability of regime change. See {590195} and {593076} as examples.
The impication is that small changes are just as hard often and might be easier than large changes.
