Download or read book Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World written by Francesco Cavatorta and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-10-04 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition paradigm has traditionally viewed civil society activism as an essential condition for the establishment of democracy. The democracy promotion strategies of Western policy-makers have, therefore, been based on strengthening civil society in authoritarian settings in order to support the development of social capital -to challenge undemocratic regimes. This book questions the validity of the link between an active associational life and democratization. It examines civil society in the Arab world in order to illustrate how authoritarian constraints structure civil society dynamics in the region in ways that hinder transition to democracy. Building on innovative theoretical work and drawing on empirical data from extensive fieldwork in the region, this study demonstrates how the activism of civil society in five different Arab countries strengthens rather than weakens authoritarian practices and rule. Through an analysis of the specific legal and political constraints on associational life, and the impact of these on relations between different civic groups, and between associations and state authorities, the book demonstrates that the claim that civil society plays a positive role in processes of democratic transformation is highly questionable. Offering a broad and alternative vision of the state of civil society in the region, this book will be an important contribution to studies on Middle Eastern politics, democratization and civil society activism.
Download or read book Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World written by Francesco Cavatorta and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-10-04 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition paradigm has traditionally viewed civil society activism as an essential condition for the establishment of democracy. The democracy promotion strategies of Western policy-makers have, therefore, been based on strengthening civil society in authoritarian settings in order to support the development of social capital -to challenge undemocratic regimes. This book questions the validity of the link between an active associational life and democratization. It examines civil society in the Arab world in order to illustrate how authoritarian constraints structure civil society dynamics in the region in ways that hinder transition to democracy. Building on innovative theoretical work and drawing on empirical data from extensive fieldwork in the region, this study demonstrates how the activism of civil society in five different Arab countries strengthens rather than weakens authoritarian practices and rule. Through an analysis of the specific legal and political constraints on associational life, and the impact of these on relations between different civic groups, and between associations and state authorities, the book demonstrates that the claim that civil society plays a positive role in processes of democratic transformation is highly questionable. Offering a broad and alternative vision of the state of civil society in the region, this book will be an important contribution to studies on Middle Eastern politics, democratization and civil society activism.
Download or read book Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World written by Rex Brynen and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 1995 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arab world is experiencing a variety of factors - internal and external - that are leading to change. This work examines such factors that are shaping political liberalisation and democratisation in the Arab context, as well as the role played by particular social groups.
Download or read book Democratization in the Arab World written by Laurel E. Miller and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2012-07-18 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daunting challenges lie ahead for Arab countries where revolutions have upended longstanding authoritarian regimes. This monograph aims to help policymakers understand the challenges ahead, form well-founded expectations, shape diplomatic approaches, and take practical steps to foster positive change.
Download or read book Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religion and Civil Society in the Arab World written by Tania Haddad and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2018-06-14 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the links between civil society, religion and politics in the Middle East and North Africa region. The chapters in the volume explore the role of religion in shaping and changing the public sphere in regions that are developing and/or in conflict. They also discuss how these relations are reflected on civil society organizations and the role they are expected to play in transitional periods. This volume: investigates the conceptual dilemmas regarding what is ‘civil society’ in the Arab world today examines the dynamic roles of civil society organizations and religion in the Middle East and North Africa explores the future of the Arab civil society post-‘Arab Spring’ events, and how the latter continues to reshape the demand for democracy in the region. A comprehensive study of how the Arab civil society has come into being and its changing roles, this eclectic work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of politics, especially political Islam, international relations, Middle East Studies, African Studies, sociology and social anthropology.
Download or read book ISS 12 The Arab Revolutions in Context written by Benjamin Isakhan and published by Melbourne Univ. Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From late 2010 a series of dramatic and unprecedented events swept across the Middle East and North Africa, toppling several autocratic regimes that had held power for decades and ushering in a new climate of dissent and democratisation. The Arab Revolutions in Context seizes a unique opportunity to reflect on these seismic events, their causes and consequences, and the core issues facing the region as it moves forward. This volume is more than a collection of detailed thematic essays. It situates the Arab Revolutions within their broader contextual backgrounds—showing that a unique set of historical events, as well as local, regional and global dynamics, has converged to provide the catalyst that triggered the recent revolts-and also within a new conceptual framework. The argument here is that the Arab Revolutions pose a very specific challenge to conventional wisdom concerning democracy and democratisation in the Middle East. The Arab Revolutions in Context is the first volume of its kind to address the Arab Revolutions and the varying analyses, debates and discussions that they have stimulated.
Download or read book Civil society in the Middle East 2 2001 written by Augustus Richard Norton and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2001 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars assembled by the Civil Society in the Middle East program provide lucid, informed essays on the quality of political life, weighing the role of civil society and assessing the prospects for political reform in the Middle East.
Download or read book Promoting Middle East Democracy II written by Mona Yacoubian and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil Society in the Middle East written by Augustus R. Norton and published by Social, Economic and Political. This book was released on 1995 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: North Africa. By Alan Richards
Download or read book Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World written by Nicola Christine Pratt and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Representing a departure from studies of Middle East politics and democratisation, this book employs theories and concepts to the study of democracy and authoritarianism in the Arab world. It examines the role of non-state actors, civil society, in the maintenance of or resistance to the discourse that underpins authoritarian politics.
Download or read book Democracy and Civil Society in Arab Political Thought written by Michaelle L. Browers and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2006-10-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a significant and unique contribution to the emerging literature of comparative political thought. Michaelle L. Browers offers compelling evidence, with extensive analysis and references, that a rigorous debate is taking place in Arabic concerning the value of democracy and civil society. Exploring the globalization of ideas of democracy and civil society, Browers addresses the question of what occurs when concepts cross the boundaries of cultures or languages. She analyzes the historical concept of democracy in Arab and Islamic political thought, the transformations that have occurred over the past several decades resulting from Arab forays into an international discussion of civil society and what these transformations tell us about the status of ideological and conceptual debates in the region. The book’s value, however, lies in its main premise: despite the dearth of actual democratic practices in the Arab world, intellectual elites of the region have vigorously debated reform concepts for decades. Browers emphasizes that current conflicts involving the Middle East are less about Islam against the west and its secular allies in the region and more about diverse sectors of Arab society grappling with how to reform overreaching and unjust states. Browers shows that the seeds of democratic reform in the region were well planted prior to the war on Iraq and the Greater Middle East Initiative.
Download or read book Civil Society in the Middle East Volume 1 written by Norton and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-04-11 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Launched in 1992, the Civil Society in the Middle East program has brought together dozens of leading scholars to analyze political life through an exploration of civil society within the states of the region. This is the first of two volumes to be published by Brill; it contains original studies of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the prospects for democratization in the Arab world, the consequences of economic liberalization and contemporary Islamic thought on civil society and democracy. This first volume offers a wealth of new material on unions, political parties and professional syndicates, and other components of civil society, as the authors weigh the prospects for political reform in the Middle East, and provide readable yet richly informed assessments of state-society relations.
Download or read book West Asia written by Sujata Ashwarya Cheema and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notions of democracy and civil society are inextricably linked. Democracy fosters the development of civil society, as it allows freedom of association to the individuals. This space then links the individuals to the state. In the backdrop of the wave of political liberalization sweeping through West Asia since the early 1990s, the debate on democratization in the region has been associated with the study of three crucial issues, namely: Does civil society exists in the region? What are its strengths and its weaknesses? What does the future holds for its existence? Evidence from the political processes of some countries of the region reveals that civil society has strengthened in the recent past. This book examines the notion of civil society and its relations with democracy and state in the context of West Asia.
Download or read book The Arab Spring Civil Society and Innovative Activism written by Cenap Çakmak and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the role of society groups in the making of the Arab Spring and under which conditions they attained their goals. Democracy and recognition of human rights and fundamental freedoms seem to be the main drives of the people organized in form of civil groups or grassroots movements in the Arab Spring countries; but it is essential to identify when they find it suitable to take such extreme action as taking the streets in an attempt to take down the repressive regimes. It is also important to investigate what methods they relied on in their action and how they challenged the state and the government. A review of the cases in this volume shows that civil society has certain limitations in its action. Analysis of the cases also challenges a commonly held assumption that the Arab world does not have strong and rich civil society tradition. However, for a lasting success and consolidation of democracy, something more than civil society action is obviously needed. A strong organized opposition and a democratic culture seems to be indispensable elements for the evolution of a democratic order and tradition.
Download or read book Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World written by Nicola Pratt and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What explains the enduring rule of authoritarian regimes in the Arab world? Nicola Pratt offers an innovative approach to this recurring question, shedding light on the failure of democratization by examining both the broad dynamics of authoritarianism in the region and the particular role of civil society. Pratt appraises the part that civil society actors played in the normalization of authoritarianism in the Middle East, the challenges that new organized groups now pose to entrenched Arab regimes, and the varying ways in which those regimes are responding. She also explores the diversity of conceptions of democracy among nonstate actors. Arguing against the idea that Arab culture is inherently incompatible with democracy--the concept of Middle East "exceptionalism"--she assesses the realistic potential for democratization in the region.
