Islam and Democracy in the Middle East

by Diamond, Larry Jay; Plattner, Marc F.; Brumberg, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780801878480
• ISBN10: 0801878489
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-03
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Islam and Democracy in the Middle East provides 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 twenty-five leading Western and Middle Eastern scholars, the book highlights the dualistic and often contradictory nature of political liberalization. As the case studies of Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and 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. Turkey's experience highlights the critical role of political Islam as a 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. Contributors: Shaul Bakhash, George Mason University; Ladan Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran; Roya Boroumand, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation; Jason Brownlee, Princeton University; Daniel Brumberg, Georgetown University; Abdelwahab El-Affendi, University of Westminster; Haleh Esfandiari, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Abdou Filali-Ansary, editor of Prologues: revue maghrebine du livre; Michael Herb, Georgia State University; Ramin Jahanbegloo, Aga Khan University, London; Mehrangiz Kar, lawyer, writer, and human rights activist; E. Fuat Keyman, Koc University, Istanbul; Laith Kubba, National Endowment for Democracy; Vickie Langohr, College of the Holy Cross; Bernard Lewis, Princeton University; Russell Lucas, Wake Forest University; Abdeslam Maghraoui, Princeton University; Radwan Masmoudi, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington, D.C.; Ziya Onis; Koc University; Soli Ozel, Bilgi University, Istanbul; William Quandt, University of Virginia; Jillian Schwedler, University of Maryland, College Park; Jean-Francois Seznec, Columbia University and Georgetown University; Emmanuel Sivan, Hebrew University; Mohamed Talbi, independent scholar; Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times.

Author Biography

Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is codirector, with Marc Plattner, of the International Forum for Democratic Studies. He is also coeditor, with Marc Plattner, of the Journal of Democracy and of other collections of essays available from Johns Hopkins, including The Global Resurgence of Democracy, Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies, and The Global Divergence of Democracies.Daniel Brumberg is associate professor of government at Georgetown University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction, Daniel Brumberg and Larry Diamond	ix
I. Democratization in the Arab World
1. A Record of Failure
Mohamed Talbi	3	(10)
2. Illusions of Change
Emmanuel Sivara	13	(15)
3. The Awakening of Civil Society
Laith Kubba	28	(7)
4. The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy
Daniel Brumberg	35	(13)
5. The Decline of Pluralism in Mubarak's Egypt
Jason Brownlee	48	(10)
6. Algeria's Uneasy Peace
William B. Quandt	58	(9)
7. Depoliticization in Morocco
Abdeslam M. Maghraoui	67	(9)
8. Stirrings in Saudi Arabia
Jean-François Seznec	76	(8)
9. Emirs and Parliaments in the Gulf
Michael Herb	84	(7)
10. Yemen's Aborted Opening
Jillian Schwedler	91	(8)
11. Deliberalization in Jordan
Russell E. Lucas	99	(10)
II. Iran and Turkey
12. Iran's Remarkable Election
Shaul Bakhash	109	(15)
13. Is Iran Democratizing? Observations on Election Day
Haleh Esfandiari	124	(6)
14. Is Iran Democratizing? Reform at an Impasse
Ladan Boroumand and Roya Boroumand	130	(15)
15. Is Iran Democratizing? A Comparativist's Perspective
Daniel Brumberg	145	(6)
16. The Deadlock in Iran: Pressures from Below
Rami Jahanbegloo	151	(6)
17. The Deadlock in Iran: Constitutional Constraints
Mehrangiz Kar	157	(5)
18. Turkey at the Polls: After the Tsunami
Soli Ozel	162	(15)
19. Turkey at the Polls: A New Path Emerges
Ziya Onis and E. Fuat Keyman	177	(16)
III. Islam and Democracy
20. Muslims and Democracy
Abdou Filali-Ansary	193	(15)
21. A Historical Overview
Bernard Lewis	208	(12)
22. Two Visions of Reformation
Robin Wright	220	(12)
23. The Challenge of Secularization
Abdou Filali-Ansary	232	(5)
24. The Sources of Enlightened Muslim Thought
Abdou Filali-Ansary	237	(15)
25. The Elusive Reformation
Abdelwahab El-Alfendi	252	(6)
26. The Silenced Majority
Radwan A. Masmoudi	258	(5)
27. Faith and Modernity
Laith Kubba	263	(5)
28. Islamists and the Politics of Consensus
Daniel Brumberg	268	(8)
29. An Exit from Arab Autocracy
Vickie Langohr	276	(7)
30. Terror, Islam, and Democracy
Ladan Boroumand and Roya Boroumand	283	(16)
Index	299