Illiberal Democracies in the Middle East and North Africa Research Question Under what conditions will illiberal democracies form Argument Cultural influences play a role in determining the liberalness or illiberalness of emergent democracies ID: 312028
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Slide1
Democratization and Religion:
Illiberal Democracies in the Middle East and North Africa
Research Question:
Under what conditions will illiberal democracies form?
Argument:
Cultural influences play a role in determining the liberalness or illiberalness of emergent democraciesSlide2
Literature Review
The Rise of Illiberal Democracy
Fareed
Zakaria
:
Establishes the concept of illiberal democracies
Importance of liberal-constitutional aspects of democracy
Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East
Shadi
Hamid:
Conservative Culture of MENA results in votes for Islamist parties
Political parties and populations support democracy and desire illiberal policies
The Transformation of the Arab World
Olivier Roy
Arab Spring/Democracy has decoupled Religion and State, secularized politics (post-Islamism)
‘Conservative’ replaces ‘Islamic’ in policySlide3
Method
Define illiberal democracy
Demonstrate that democracy is widely supported by MENA populations and political parties
Show the population’s view on religion and government in both policy applications and governance preferences
Demonstrate that voters will/have approve(d) parties and policies advocating illiberal positions
Examine Islamist parties operated in Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan
Posit that when/if democratization occurs in the region, similar patterns will result due to similar popular opinion and voter desireSlide4
Evidence
Polling Data (Pew, Gallup, Arab Barometer) of MENA shows regional support for role of religion in government and support for policies advocated by religious political parties
Pro – Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Brotherhood won election
Popular opinion and election supported religiously conservative policies
Brotherhood implemented illiberal policies but unable to maintain legitimacy
Brotherhood loses control to SCAF
Counter –
Ennahda’s
governance in Tunisia:
Democracy resulted in emergence of overt religiosity;
Ennahda won election
However, Tunisia has lower support for conservative policies than most in MENA
Ennahda
adapted and implemented what it could
Lost election last month to secular party Slide5
Tentative Conclusion
Due to the dominance of conservative and religious values in MENA, emergent democracies will tend toward illiberal governing styles reflecting the will of the majority