Download or read book Islam and Democracy in the Middle East written by Larry Diamond and published by . This book was released on 2003-08-07 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive assessment of the origins and staying power of Middle East autocracies, as well as a sober account of the struggles of state reformers and opposition forces to promote civil liberties, competitive elections and a pluralistic vision of Islam. Drawing on the insights of some 25 leading Western and Middle Eastern scholars, the book highlights the dualistic and often contradictory nature of political liberalization. Yemen suggest, political liberalization - as managed by the state - not only opens new spaces for debate and criticism, but is also used as a deliberate tactic to avoid genuine democratization. In several chapters on Iran, the authors analyze the benefits and costs of limited reform. There, the electoral successes of President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies inspired a new generation but have not as yet undermined the clerical establishment's power. By contrast, in Turkey a party with Islamist roots is moving a discredited system beyond decades of conflict and paralysis, following a stunning election victory in 2002. force for change. While acknowledging the enduring attraction of radical Islam throughout the Arab world, the concluding chapters carefully assess the recent efforts of Muslim civil society activists and intellectuals to promote a liberal Islamic alternative. Their struggles to affirm the compatibility of Islam and pluralistic democracy face daunting challenges, not least of which is the persistent efforts of many Arab rulers to limit the influence of all advocates of democracy, secular or religious.
Download or read book Democratisation in the Middle East written by Birgitte Rahbaek and published by Aarhus Universitetsforlag. This book was released on 2005-12-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main aim of the book is to provide a forum for opinions held by Arabs who are neither Western puppets nor fanatical nationalists or Islamists, but rather academics with a vast knowledge of the Middle East as well as of the West. The authors all support the building of a democratic secular Middle East, but their writings also show that although there is no easy way to achieve this goal, neither is there any excuse for not making the attempt. Contributors: Nader Fergany author of the Arab Human Development Reports; Raymond Hinnebusch professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics, University of St. Andrews; Yezid Sayigh consultant to the international donor community in Palestine; Samir Aita Syrian scholar and dissident; Graham Usher British journalist; Hanan Rabbani Palestinian consultant for Amnesty International; Mai Yamani (Saudi Arabia) research fellow with the Middle East Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House; Fowziyah Abu-Khalid Saudi sociologist; Amal Shlash Iraq; Huda Al-Nu'aimi Iraq; Jgen S. Nielsen Professor, director of the Danish Institute in Damascus.
Download or read book Democratic Transition in the Middle East written by Larbi Sadiki and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular uprisings and revolts across the Arab Middle East have often resulted in a democratic faragh or void in power. How society seeks to fill that void, regardless of whether the regime falls or survives, is the common trajectory followed by the seven empirical case studies published here for the first time. This edited volume seeks to unpack the state of the democratic void in three interrelated fields: democracy, legitimacy and social relations. In doing so, the conventional treatment of democratization as a linear, formal, systemic and systematic process is challenged and the power politics of democratic transition reassessed. Through a close examination of case studies focusing on Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, this collection introduces the reader to indigenous narratives on how power is wrested and negotiated from the bottom up. It will be of interest to those seeking a fresh perspective on democratization models as well as those seeking to understand the reshaping of the Arab Middle East in the lead-up to the Arab Spring.
Download or read book The Middle East and Problems of Democracy written by Heather Deegan and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the post-Cold War, post-Gulf War political environment of the Middle East, a debate about democracy and pluralism has begun. In this work, Heather Deegan challenges the view that political reform is unsustainable in the region, and examines the moves towards democratization which have recently taken place. She discusses individual countries on the basis of their political structures: monarchical, authoritarian, theocratic, confessional and multiparty. She considers factors in the democratizing process such as the institution of political parties, the re-introduction of elections, citizenship with associated rights and responsibilities and the role of Islam. Democracy is not confined solely to a liberal democratic model although political change and greater levels of participation may be viewed as steps paving the way for a fuller democratization in a liberal democratic sense. The author identifies certain constraints which tended to undermine political advances in the past: population mobility, communal division and the impact of the Cold War. She places the possibilities for political reform in the wider context of the Third World in order to assess the degree to which prospects for democracy in the Middle East correspond with general conclusions about democratization in the developing world.
Download or read book Pacted Democracy in the Middle East written by Hicham Alaoui and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a new theory for how democracy can materialize in the Middle East, and the broader Muslim world. It shows that one pathway to democratization lays not in resolving important, but often irreconcilable, debates about the role of religion in politics. Rather, it requires that Islamists and their secular opponents focus on the concerns of pragmatic survival—that is, compromise through pacting, rather than battling through difficult philosophical issues about faith. This is the only book-length treatment of this topic, and one that aims to redefine the boundaries of an urgent problem that continues to haunt struggles for democracy in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
Download or read book Uncharted Journey written by Thomas Carothers and published by Carnegie Endowment. This book was released on 2010-03 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States faces no greater challenge today than successfully fulfilling its new ambition of helping bring about a democratic transformation of the Middle East. Uncharted Journey contributes a wealth of concise, illuminating insights on this subject, drawing on the contributors' deep knowledge of Arab politics and their substantial experience with democracy-building in other parts of the world. The essays in part one vividly dissect the state of Arab politics today, including an up-to-date examination of the political shock wave in the region produced by the invasion of Iraq. Part two and three set out a provocative exploration of the possible elements of a democracy promotion strategy for the region. The contributors identify potential false steps as well as a productive way forward, avoiding the twin shoals of either reflexive pessimism in the face of the daunting obstacles to Arab democratization or an unrealistic optimism that fails to take into account the region's political complexities. Contributors include Eva Bellin (Hunter College), Daniel Brumberg (Carnegie Endowment), Thomas Carothers (Carnegie Endowment), Michele Dunne (Georgetown University), Graham Fuller, Amy Hawthorne (Carnegie Endowment), Marina Ottaway (Carnegie Endowment), and Richard Youngs (Foreign Policy Centre).
Download or read book Democratisation against Democracy written by Andrea Teti and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-20 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains why the EU is not a ‘normative actor’ in the Southern Mediterranean, and how and why EU democracy promotion fails. Drawing on a combination of discourse analysis of EU policy documents and evidence from opinion polls showing ‘what the people want’, the book shows EU policy fails because the EU promotes a conception of democracy which people do not share. Likewise, the EU’s strategies for economic development are misconceived because they do not reflect the people’s preferences for greater social justice and reducing inequalities. This double failure highlights a paradox of EU democracy promotion: while nominally emancipatory, it de facto undermines the very transitions to democracy and inclusive development it aims to pursue.
Download or read book Conflict Democratization and the Kurds in the Middle East written by David Romano and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-08-13 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, central governments historically pursued mono-nationalist ideologies and repressed Kurdish identity. As evidenced by much unrest and a great many Kurdish revolts in all these states since the 1920s, however, the Kurds manifested strong resistance towards ethnic chauvinism. What sorts of authoritarian state policies have Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria relied on to contain the Kurds over the years? Can meaningful democratization and liberalization in any of these states occur without a fundamental change vis-à-vis their Kurdish minorities? To what extent does the Kurdish issue function as both a barrier and key to democratization in four of the most important states of the Middle East? While many commentators on the Middle East stress the importance of resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute for achieving 'peace in the Middle East,' this book asks whether or not the often overlooked Kurdish issue may constitute a more important fulcrum for change in the region, especially in light of the 'Arab Spring' and recent changes in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.
Download or read book Media and Democracy in the Middle East written by Nael Jebril and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-20 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume examines the current challenges to media freedom and democratisation in the Middle East. The book revisits the relationship between media consumption and activism in the region, providing thorough analyses on the appropriation of social media for political engagement. Since the outburst and spread of what was known as the ‘Arab Uprisings’ in 2010, the political and media landscapes in the Middle East region have dramatically changed. The initial hope for democratic change and governance quality improvements has faded, as several regimes in the Middle East have strengthened their repressive tactics toward voices deemed critical of governments’ practices, including journalists, bloggers, and activists. The crumbling Arab media scene has also reached an abysmal low, with little to no independence, and public perception of basic freedoms in the region has significantly dropped, as has trust in media and government institutions. This book examines current challenges to media freedom, political participation, and democratisation in the region while reassessing the dynamic relationship between media use and political engagement, amidst a complex political environment accompanied by a rapidly changing digital media landscape. This book’s relevance will appeal to varied audiences, such as scholars and students of journalism, communication, political science, and Middle Eastern studies. It will also prove to be an invaluable resource for organisations dedicated to the research of political communication, media freedom, and use patterns of nontraditional, or new, media.
Download or read book Democracy in the Arab World written by Ibrahim Elbadawi and published by IDRC. This book was released on 2011 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite notable socio-economic development in the Arab region, a deficit in democracy and political rights has continued to prevail. This book examines the major reasons underlying the persistence of this democracy deficit over the past decades, drawing on case studies from across the Arab world to explore economic development, political institutions and social factors, and the impact of oil wealth and regional wars.
Download or read book Democratization and Development written by D. Jung and published by Springer. This book was released on 2006-08-05 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the political economy of development and democracy in the Middle East, this book provides new insight into the effects of external initiatives for the support of good governance in Arab states, the impact of transnational Islamist networks on democratization in the Middle East, and the role of new satellite broadcasting in the Arab world.
Download or read book Democratization in the Middle East written by Amin Saikal and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part I. Democratic peace, conflict prevention, and the United Nations. Part II. Secularization and democracy. Part III. National and regional experiences.
Download or read book The Search for Arab Democracy written by Larbi Sadiki and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to be a "democrat" and a "Muslim" at the same time is the subject of ongoing contests. This book maps out the variety of voices contesting "Islam" and "democracy" in the Arab world, insisting that neither category can be taken as unitary or fixed. In the Arab Middle East, the contest is over "which", "whose", and "how much" democracy takes place within an existing contest over "which", "whose", and "how much" Islam must be given pre-eminence in the political and cultural sphere. There is a "Democracy" and there are "democracies." There is an "Islam" and there are "islams." Larbi Sadiki deploys the conceptual tools of contemporary Western political philosophy and theory to articulate and defend some provocative theses. The book challenges Eurocentric conceptions of democracy that all-too-frequently display a lack of concern for specificity and context; analyzes and interrogates Orientalist and Occidentalist discourses on democracy; and considers some of the justifications for democracy in the global arena, giving space for self-representation by women and Islamists, among others. Using interviews with Muslims from every social and economic stratum, the book shows how Arabs themselves understand, imagine, and view democracy.
Download or read book American Democracy Promotion in the Changing Middle East written by Shahram Akbarzadeh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were packaged as democracy promotion, as heralding the beginning of a new phase in the politics of the Middle East when democracy would replace authoritarian regimes. Many of these authoritarian regimes, however, were sustained by US support.
Download or read book Democratic Transition in the Middle East written by Larbi Sadiki and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular uprisings and revolts across the Arab Middle East have often resulted in a democratic faragh or void in power. How society seeks to fill that void, regardless of whether the regime falls or survives, is the common trajectory followed by the seven empirical case studies published here for the first time. This edited volume seeks to unpack the state of the democratic void in three interrelated fields: democracy, legitimacy and social relations. In doing so, the conventional treatment of democratization as a linear, formal, systemic and systematic process is challenged and the power politics of democratic transition reassessed. Through a close examination of case studies focusing on Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, this collection introduces the reader to indigenous narratives on how power is wrested and negotiated from the bottom up. It will be of interest to those seeking a fresh perspective on democratization models as well as those seeking to understand the reshaping of the Arab Middle East in the lead-up to the Arab Spring.
Download or read book The Struggle Over Democracy in the Middle East written by Nathan J. Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-03 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many residents of the Middle East - and more recently, Western powers - have placed great hope in democratization in the region. Bringing together a number of experts on the region to provide a broad ranging survey of individual countries, this book examines the experiences of activists, parties, religious groups and governments, the influences exerted on them and the difficulties involved in bringing democracy to the Middle East.
Download or read book Realism and Democracy written by Elliott Abrams and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book makes a realpolitik argument for supporting democracy in the Arab world, drawing on four decades of policy experience.
