Download or read book Listening to Unfamiliar Voices written by Alvaro Vasconcelos and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2011, millions of citizens in the Southern Mediterranean took to the streets demanding an end to dictatorship and the right to choose their governments, and also affirming their right to their cultural and religious identities and well-being. Within months this extraordinary popular movement led to the downfall of three dictators. The now thirty-seven year old third democratic wave is finally sweeping the periphery of old Europe. This wave came in four phases: it caused the fall of the dictatorships in Europe in Portugal, Greece and Spain in the 1970s, then in Latin America and Asia in the 1980s and 1990s, followed by Eastern Europe and other countries in the 1990s; and now, after the lost decade at the start of this century, it is sweeping the Mediterranean and Arab world. This book assesses the democratic wave one year on, and what the options are for the EU in a post-Western international context. European initiatives, starting with the Barcelona summit in 2005, have given renewed impetus to the project of Euro-Mediterranean inclusion, and countered the view of Muslims as the enemy that has prevailed for too long in the West. Against this background, the challenge will be to accept the democratic choices of citizens in the South and to learn to live with the fact that Islamist parties are likely to come to power all over the region. Europeans will have to listen to these new and unfamiliar voices and acknowledge their legitimacy. These are the voices of those who need to recover their dignity. These may not be less democratic, but they will certainly be more autonomous. Europe needs to act as a consensus-builder in the Arab quest for democratic legitimacy and not as a divisive force that either supports secularist forces against Islamist parties or marginalises liberals in the name of a new political pragmatism. Europe and the US have to work with others to support transitions to democracy in the Arab world. The EU and some of its Member States are unavoidable actors in the Maghreb. The risk is that European policy choices may have a negative impact on local politics or that the EU offers the region insufficient means to address the huge social challenges it faces. In the Middle East, where the European Union is one among many actors, Europe risks becoming irrelevant in a region that remains the world's strategic hub. This book seeks to show that the democratic revolutions in the Arab countries offer a unique opportunity for the EU to contribute to a peaceful and democratic neighbourhood and to give a new impetus and raison d'être to the European project.
Download or read book Democracy s Fourth Wave written by Philip N. Howard and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did digital media really "cause" the Arab Spring, or is it an important factor of the story behind what might become democracy's fourth wave? An unlikely network of citizens used digital media to start a cascade of social protest that ultimately toppled four of the world's most entrenched dictators. Howard and Hussain find that the complex causal recipe includes several economic, political and cultural factors, but that digital media is consistently one of the most important sufficient and necessary conditions for explaining both the fragility of regimes and the success of social movements. This book looks at not only the unexpected evolution of events during the Arab Spring, but the deeper history of creative digital activism throughout the region.
Download or read book The Arab Democratic Wave written by Álvaro de Vasconcelos and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Third Wave written by Samuel P. Huntington and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.
Download or read book Listening to Unfamiliar Voices The Arab Democratic Wave written by Álvaro de Vasconcelos and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Arab Democratic Wave written by Alvaro Vasconcelos and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This multi-author report, edited by Álvaro de Vasconcelos, was conceived as a response to the recent uprisings in Tunisia and in Egypt and the "democratic wave" that has struck the Arab world. Clearly, these democratic uprisings call for a radical shift in the way in which Euro-Mediterranean relations are formulated and conducted. The report seeks to examine the significance of these events in this context. The first part of the report focuses on individual countries in the region, in the following sequence: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The second part of the report consists of three chapters addressing the question of human rights and the rule of law in the region, the social and economic aspects of the democratic transition process, and the European Neighbourhood Policy.
Download or read book Making Waves written by Kurt Weyland and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study investigates the three main waves of political regime contention in Europe and Latin America. Surprisingly, protest against authoritarian rule spread across countries more quickly in the nineteenth century, yet achieved greater success in bringing democracy in the twentieth. To explain these divergent trends, the book draws on cognitive-psychological insights about the inferential heuristics that people commonly apply; these shortcuts shape learning from foreign precedents such as an autocrat's overthrow elsewhere. But these shortcuts had different force, depending on the political-organizational context. In the inchoate societies of the nineteenth century, common people were easily swayed by these heuristics: jumping to the conclusion that they could replicate such a foreign precedent in their own countries, they precipitously challenged powerful rulers, yet often at inopportune moments - and with low success. By the twentieth century, however, political organizations had formed. As organizational ties loosened the bounds of rationality, contentious waves came to spread less rapidly, but with greater success.
Download or read book Rethinking Arab Democratization written by Larbi Sadiki and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-12 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do Arab countries democratise? This is the key question this book seeks to answer. To this end, the book assesses Arab democratic experiments and analyzes the opportunities and perils, highlighting the peculiarities of democratic transitions in the Arab Middle East.
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 Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World written by Larry Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014-04 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SchraederAlfred StepanMark TesslerFrédéric VolpiLucan WayFrederic WehreySean L. Yom
Download or read book Waves of Democracy written by John Markoff and published by Pine Forge Press. This book was released on 1996-02-07 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waves of Democracy looks at two centuries of history of democratization as a series of multicontinental episodes in which social movements and elite power holders in many countries converged to reorganize political systems. Democracy is defined and redefined in these episodes. John Markoff examines several ways in which governing elites of national states mimic each other and ways in which social movements and elites interact. There is no other book written for undergraduates that looks at democracy over such a broad sweep of time and across so many countries and cultures.
Download or read book The New Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa written by Stephen J. King and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen J. King considers the reasons that international and domestic efforts toward democratization have failed to take hold in the Arab world. Focusing on Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Algeria, he suggests that a complex set of variables characterizes authoritarian rule and helps to explain both its dynamism and its persistence. King addresses, but moves beyond, how religion and the strongly patriarchal culture influence state structure, policy configuration, ruling coalitions, and legitimization and privatization strategies. He shows how the transformation of authoritarianism has taken place amid shifting social relations and political institutions and how these changes have affected the lives of millions. Ultimately, King's forward-thinking analysis offers a way to enhance the prospects for democracy in the Middle East and North Africa.
Download or read book Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World written by Larry Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three years after the first mass protests of the Arab Spring, senior scholars weigh in on how democracy is faring. Beginning in December 2010, a series of uprisings swept the Arab world, toppling four longtime leaders and creating an apparent political opening in a region long impervious to the “third wave” of democratization. Despite the initial euphoria, the legacies of authoritarianism—polarized societies, politicized militaries, state-centric economies, and pervasive clientelism—have proven stubborn obstacles to the fashioning of new political and social contracts. Meanwhile, the strong electoral performance of political Islamists and the ensuing backlash in Egypt have rekindled arguments about the compatibility of democracy and political Islam. Even though progress toward democracy has been halting at best, the region’s political environment today bears little resemblance to what it was before the uprisings. In Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World, leading scholars address the questions posed by this period of historic change in the Middle East and North Africa. This volume includes chapters examining several broad themes: the region’s shifting political culture, the relationship between democracy and political Islam, the legacy of authoritarian ruling arrangements, the strengths and vulnerabilities of remaining autocracies, and the lessons learned from transitions to democracy in other parts of the world. It also features chapters analyzing the political development of individual countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, and the monarchies of the Gulf. Contributors Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui April Longley Alley Zoltan Barany Ahmed Benchemsi Mieczysław P. Boduszyński Nathan J. Brown Jason Brownlee Daniel Brumberg John M. Carey Michele Dunne Abdou Filali-Ansary Hillel Fradkin F. Gregory Gause III Husain Haqqani Steven Heydemann Philip N. Howard Muzammil M. Hussain Amaney Jamal Stéphane Lacroix Juan J. Linz Tarek Masoud Marc F. Plattner Tarek Radwan Hamadi Redissi Andrew Reynolds Michael Robbins Olivier Roy Peter J. Schraeder Alfred Stepan Mark Tessler Frédéric Volpi Lucan Way Frederic Wehrey Sean L. Yom
Download or read book The Search for Arab Democracy written by Larbi Sadiki and published by C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 516 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 controversy. 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 contestover which democracy, whose democracy, and how much democracy takes place within an existing contest over the degree of preeminence that which slam, whose Islam, and how much Islam should be given 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.
Download or read book The Arab Spring written by Jason Brownlee and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several years after the Arab Spring began, democracy remains elusive in the Middle East. The Arab Spring that resides in the popular imagination is one in which a wave of mass mobilization swept the broader Middle East, toppled dictators, and cleared the way for democracy. The reality is that few Arab countries have experienced anything of the sort. While Tunisia made progress towards some type of constitutionally entrenched participatory rule, the other countries that overthrew their rulers-Egypt, Yemen, and Libya-remain mired in authoritarianism and instability. Elsewhere in the Arab world uprisings were suppressed, subsided or never materialized. The Arab Spring's modest harvest cries out for explanation. Why did regime change take place in only four Arab countries and why has democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts? This book attempts to answer those questions. First, by accounting for the full range of variance: from the absence or failure of uprisings in such places as Algeria and Saudi Arabia at one end to Tunisia's rocky but hopeful transition at the other. Second, by examining the deep historical and structure variables that determined the balance of power between incumbents and opposition. Brownlee, Masoud, and Reynolds find that the success of domestic uprisings depended on the absence of a hereditary executive and a dearth of oil rents. Structural factors also cast a shadow over the transition process. Even when opposition forces toppled dictators, prior levels of socioeconomic development and state strength shaped whether nascent democracy, resurgent authoritarianism, or unbridled civil war would follow.
Download or read book Al Jazeera and Democratization written by Ezzeddine Abdelmoula and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Al Jazeera and Democratization analyses the increasing role of the media in political transformations with a special emphasis on the Arab world. Taking the Al Jazeera media network as a case study, the author explains how engaging the public and providing platforms for open debate and free expression contributed to the emergence of a new vibrant Arab public sphere. The launch of Al Jazeera in 1996 was a significant event that led to subsequent changes both in Arab media and politics. Among these changes, the Arab spring is certainly the most remarkable. This unprecedented phenomenon has already resulted in political change in a number of countries and is expected to generate a democratizing wave and reshape the face of the region. The Arab spring provides us with a telling empirical example where the interplay between media and politics is manifest. The public sphere that has emerged out of this newly communicative environment has undoubtedly played its role in the current political transformations. In this context, Arab democratization is no longer an abstract, it is rather a developing process that needs our attention and requires concerted scholarly efforts. Highly topical, this book provides a fresh theoretical perspective on Arab democratization in light of the Arab Spring, and is essential reading for researchers and students of Middle East Politics, Media Studies and Democratization.
Download or read book How People View Democracy written by Larry Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2008-11-10 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays, which cover topics from Arab opinion about democracy to the nostalgia for authoritarianism found in East Asia. It sheds light on the rise of populism in Latin America, and explains why postcommunist regimes in Europe have won broad public support
