Middle East Democratization Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

In the modern history of the Arab Middle East, there are four waves that can be identified with regard to constitutionalism: reform, liberalization, pluralism, and democratization (or the lack thereof). These are the pre–World War I (1914–1918) liberal tradition, the interwar period, the post–World War II (1939–1945) period, and the post–9/11 era. With regard to the literature on democratization in the Middle East, there are two contending schools of thought that can be identified as the exclusionary discourse and the compatibility discourse.

The exclusionary discourse of democratization advocated that the Middle East is an exceptional case and immune to democracy due to an alleged incompatibility of its political culture with the modern norms of democracy. Arab political culture and Islam are held responsible for the democratic gap in the region. The work of political scientists Samuel Huntington (1991, 1993) and Yehudah Mirsky (1993) represent this trend. On a foreign policy level, Ambassador Richard Haass acknowledged in a speech on December 4, 2002, that the U.S. government has for decades practiced “democratic exceptionalism” in the Muslim world, as it did in other regions and countries after the fall of the Soviet Union. Other Western democracies never deviated from this rule.

The compatibility school of thought advocated that Islam and the Arab political culture are not less compatible with democracy than other cultures and religions. Michael Hudson (1991), John L. Esposito (1994), Saad Eddin Ibrahim (1993), and other scholars and area specialists represent this trend. However, the most noticeable aspect of the third wave literature, as put by Tim Niblock, is that it extensively researches the “why” aspect of democracy rather than the “how.” The research focuses on why the region is undemocratic instead of investigating how to bring about a successful process of transition to democracy in the Middle East and the Islamic world. This very element distinguishes the fourth wave—of democratization from the third—of pluralism.

The fourth wave’s literature is more hopeful and relatively optimistic about the status and future of democracy in the region in comparison with the third wave’s intellectual discourse. The following several trends can be identified within the fourth wave’s framework.

A literature that questions the very nature of the third wave’s assumption and the rationale of the exclusionary thought. Alfred Stepan and Graeme B. Robertson (2004), Mark Tessler and Eleanor Gao (2005), and other political scientists examined the process of democracy in a more in-depth analysis, free from the dogmatic constraints of the clash of civilizations thesis and those of the third wave.
An active Islamist intellectual involvement in the global debate over the universality of democratic values and the compatibility of Islam with democracy and modernity. Islamists in Turkey in particular have demonstrated the practical implementation of Islamist political discourse in governance, and there have been stunning electoral gains for Islamists across the Islamic world.
An examination of the impact of external factors on the process of democratization in the region, and of the U.S. involvement in the process of transition to democracy in particular.
Quantitative measurement of the advancements that have been made in the region toward the process of democratization. Several polling centers frequently measure public opinion, while scholars such as Saliba Sarsar (2006) have provided an in-depth quantitative analysis of democracy in the region.
A questioning of the impact of the Arab-Israeli conflict on political reform in the region. Since about the 1950s, Arab ruling elites have been postponing reform on the grounds that a state of war exists between Israel and the Arab world.
An examination of the linkage between democracy and terrorism, devoting special attention to the role of indigenous democratic arrangements and their impact on the process of democratization in the region.
An investigation of the impact of the American setbacks in Iraq on democratization in the region.

Democratization Of The Middle East After 9/11

During its first eight months in office, the George W. Bush administration showed no significant interest in issues related to the Middle East. However, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 drastically changed American and European policy toward that region and the world. The Bush administration made democratization an integral aspect of its policy toward the Arab world. The European Union expanded the scope of its Mediterranean Partnership to the entire Middle East in 2003, and the partnership was declared to be strategic with respect to Europe’s stability, security, and well-being.

Arab governments reacted in various ways to the fourth wave. While some governments responded to the pressure mounted by the Bush administration, others resisted political openness on security grounds. For example Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen, and United Arab Emirates conducted symbolic parliamentary elections, which were viewed mostly as undemocratic and not free. Other countries such as Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon conducted transparent elections, but this step did not contribute to political stability or substantial political development in any of them. Other countries such as Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Syria were only marginally affected by the fourth wave, as regimes in these countries continue to resist change.

Conclusion

The future of the fourth wave of democratization seems uncertain. While there are encouraging signs of change in the region, there is no solid commitment to the success of the fourth wave. The distrust among participants, the American setbacks in the war in Iraq, and the refusal of the ruling elites in the Middle East to expand the basis for political participation has hindered the democratic potential of the fourth wave as of the early twenty-first century.

Bibliography:

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