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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 and touches on the prospects for deepening the process of democratization in the Arab World. Contributions from major scholars in the region give a cross country analysis of economic development, political institutions and social factors, and the impact of oil wealth and regional wars, and present a model for democracy in the Arab world. Case studies are drawn from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and the Gulf region, building on these cross-country analyses and probing beyond the model’s main global variables. Looking beyond the effect of oil and conflicts, the chapters illustrate how specific socio-political history of the country concerned, fear of fundamentalist groups, collusion with foreign powers and foreign interventions, and the co-option of the elites by the state contribute to these problems of democratization. Situating the democratic position of the Arab World in a global context, this book is an important contribution to the field of Middle Eastern politics, development studies, and studies on conflict and democracy. Samir Makdisi is Professor Emeritus of Economics, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Relations, and Founding Director at the Institute for Financial Economics at the American University of Beirut. He has served as Deputy President of AUB; as chair of the Board of Trustees at the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey; on the Board of the Global Development Network; and as Minister of Economy and Trade for the Republic of Lebanon. Ibrahim Elbadawi is Lead Economist at the Development Research Group of the World Bank. Until recently he was Lead Economist at the Development Research Group of the World Bank and has published widely on macroeconomic and development policy. His regional specialization covers Africa and the Middle East, where he is widely networked with academic research and policy forums in the two regions. He is also a visiting research fellow with the Center for Global Development and an Associate Editor of the Middle East Development Journal. Introduction Part 1: Democracy and Development: Conceptual and Cross Country Perspectives 1. Political Culture and the Crisis of Democracy in the Arab World Abdelwahab El Affendi 2. Explaining the Arab Democracy Deficit: The Role of Oil and Conflicts Ibrahim Elbadawi, Samir Makdisi and Gary Milante Part 2: Case studies – Oil, Conflict and Beyond. Mashreq Countries 3. Jordan: Propellers of Autocracy, the Arab Israeli Conflict and Foreign Power Interventions Taher Kanaan and Joseph Massad 4. Lebanon: The Constrained Democracy and its National Impact Samir Makdisi, Fadia Kiwan and Marcus Marktanner 5. Syria: The Underpinnings of Autocracy: Conflict, Oil and the Curtailment of Economic Freedom Raed Safadi, Laura Munro and Radwan Ziadeh Oil Dependent Countries 6. The Gulf Region: Beyond Oil and Wars: The Role of History and Geopolitics in Explaining Autocracy Sami Atallah 7. Algeria: Democracy and Development under the Aegis of the “Authoritarian Bargain” Belkacem Laabas and Ammar Bouhouche 8. Iraq: Understanding Autocracy: Oil and Conflict in a Historical and Socio-Political Context Eric Davis and Bassam Yousif Nile Valley Countries 9. Egypt: Development, Liberalization and the Persistence of Autocracy Gouda Abdel-Khalek and Mustapha K. Al Sayyid 10. Sudan: The Colonial Heritage, Social Polarization and the Democracy Deficit Ali Abdel Ghadir Ali and Atta El Battahani Part 3: Summing Up 11. The Democracy Deficit in the Arab World: An Interpretive Synthesis Ibrahim Elbadawi and Samir Makdisi \"Democracy in the Arab World is a welcome contribution to the literature examining the democracy deficit in the region. Unlike other studies that deal with democratization, the book zeroes in on the major drivers behind the democracy deficit in various Arab countries and offers a complex set of analytical explanations. Eschewing simplistic dichotomies and culturalist dogma, Democracy in the Arab World diagnosis the critical role of conflicts and oil, but also reveals the influence of political leadership, foreign interventions and the cooption of elites, in inhibiting the democratic process in the region despite its notable socio-economic development. Another major strength of the book is that it bridges the gap between theory and history. An impressive list of researchers and scholars of the region!\" Fawaz A. Gerges, London School of Economics

Amid the current turmoil in the Middle East,Understanding Tahrir Squaresounds a rare optimistic note. Surveying countries in other parts of the world during their transitions to democracy, author Stephen Grand argues that the long-term prospects in many parts of the Arab world are actually quite positive. If the current polarization and political violence in the region can be overcome, democracy will eventually take root. The key to this change will likely be ordinary citizens-foremost among them the young protestors of the Arab Spring who have filled the region's public spaces-most famously, Egypt's Tahrir Square. The book puts the Arab Spring in comparative perspective. It reveals how globalization and other changes are upending the expectations of citizens everywhere about the relationship between citizen and state. Separate chapters examine the experiences of countries in the former Eastern bloc, in the Muslim-majority states of Asia, in Latin America, and in Sub-Saharan Africa during the recent Third Wave of democratization. What these cases show is that, at the end of the day, democracy requires democrats. Many complex factors go into making a democracy successful, such as the caliber of its political leaders, the quality of its constitution, and the design of its political institutions. But unless there is clear public demand for new institutions to function as intended, political leaders are unlikely to abide by the limits those institutions impose. If American policymakers want to support the brave activists struggling to bring democracy to the Arab world, helping them cultivate an effective political constituency for democracy-in essence, growing the Tahrir Square base-should be the lodestar of U.S. assistance.

Set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, The Sharia State examines the Islamist concept of political order. This order is based on a new interpretation of sharia and has been dubbed \"the Islamic state\" by Islamists. The concept of \"the Islamic state,\" has been elevated to a political agenda and it is this agenda that is examined here. In contrast to the prevailing view which sees the Arab Spring as a revolution, this book argues that the phenomenon has been neither a Spring, nor a revolution. The term 'Arab Spring,' connotes a just rebellion that led to toppling dictators and authoritarian rulers, yet in The Sharia State, Bassam Tibi challenges the unchecked assumption that the seizure of leadership by Islamists is a part of the democratization of the Middle East. Providing a new perspective on the relationship between the Arab Spring and democratization, this book is an essential read for students and scholars of Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies and Politics.

The Arab revolutions that began in Tunisia in early 2011 spread like wildfire through the region, shocking observers across the world who had thought that Arab societies were incapable of turning on their repressive regimes. As Jean-Piere Filiu shows in his concise yet sweeping account of the revolution's pivotal first stage, the revolts that began in Tunis and continue today in Syria have exposed the fallacy of Western pronouncements about Islamic societies' inability to incubate modern democratic movements. Stressing the deep historical roots of the events and organizing the book around 'ten lessons,' Filiu's authoritative command of the events in all their diversity shines through. Facebook-savvy youth from the urban middle class proved central in the relatively leaderless movement that drove events in Egypt, but disenfranchised youths from the wrong side of the tracks spearheaded the Tunisian revolution. Regardless of who led the revolution, ruling regimes that have managed to survive are attempting to adapt, whether through carrots or sticks. As we move forward, one of the most intriguing issues is the role that political Islam, particularly in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood, will play in evolving Arab societies. Will they embrace democracy and higher levels of tolerance, following a Turkish model? Recent events in Egypt suggest that this may be indeed be the case, which will undercut much of what Western commentators have said about the movement for decades. Interestingly, the main losers could well be the jihadi groups whose discourse and violence have been invalidated by the mass protests and their pluralist agendas. Regardless, even though the situation is still volatile, nothing will be the same again in the Arab world. Filiu's taut account of this major revolutionary movement points to what else might change, and at what cost.

Throughout the Middle East, and in the west as well, there has been much discussion concerning the notion of Islamic rule and the application of shari’ah by the state. Central to these debates are the three key themes that Mohammad Abed al-Jabri looks at in this book: democracy, human rights and law. Jabri, one of the most influential political philosophers in the contemporary Middle East, examines how these three concepts have been applied in the history of the Arab world, and shows that they are determined by political and social context, not by Islamic doctrine. Jabri argues that in order to develop democratic societies in which human rights are respected, the Arab world cannot simply rely on old texts and traditions. Nor can it import democratic models from the West. Instead, he says, a new tradition will have to be forged by today’s Arabs themselves, on their own terms. Through analysis of contemporary Arab ideology, its doubts about democracy, whether human rights are universal and the role of women and minorities in Islamic society, he expounds on the most pertinent issues in modern political philosophy. This lively interrogation of the building blocs of western conceptions of a modern state is a classic text and is vital for all students of modern Islamic political thought.

Many residents of the Middle East - and more recently, Western powers - have placed great hope in democratization in the region. Yet authoritarianism remains the norm and movement towards democracy is both slow and uneven. The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East examines democracy and democratization in the light of regional realities rather than the wishful thinking of outsiders. Specialists from the region analyze democratic prospects in the region, while accomplished scholars from the United States and the United Kingdom analyze Western policy, providing a wide-ranging survey of the efforts of individual countries and the effect of external influences. Addressing themes including sectarianism, culture, religion, security and the promotion of democracy, the book examines the experiences of activists, political parties, religious groups and governments and highlights the difficulties involved in bringing democracy to the Middle East. Providing a multifaceted approach to the issue of democratization, this book will be a valuable reference for courses on Middle Eastern politics, political science and democracy. 1. Introduction Nathan J. Brown and Emad El-Din Shahin Part 1: The View From Outside: External Efforts at Democracy Promotion 2. New Wine in Old Bottles? American Efforts to Promote Democracy in the Arab World Nathan J. Brown and Amy Hawthorne 3. Democracy and Security in the Middle East Richard Youngs 4. The Fantasy of Arab Democracy without a Constituency Walid Kazziha 5. Democracy and Faith: The Continuum of Political Islam Azza Karam Part 2: Country Studies 6. Transformations in Eastern Europe and Lessons for the Middle East Shlomo Avineri 7. Democratic Transformation in Egypt: Controlled Reforms … Frustrated Hopes Emad El-Din Shahin 8. The Myth of the Democratizing Monarchy Shadi Hamid 9. Democracy in Lebanon: The Primacy of the Sectarian System Bassel Salloukh 10. Democracy, Islam and Secularism in Turkey Ersin Kalaycioglu 11. Conclusion Nathan J. Brown and Emad El-Din Shahin Nathan J. Brown is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University, where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies. He also serves as a Non-resident Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Emad El-Din Shahin is a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University; faculty affiliate at the Kennedy School of Government, the Dubai Initiative; and Associate Professor at the Political Science Department at the American University in Cairo.