Middle East and Problems of Dem - Hardcover

DEEGAN

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0335156878 ISBN 13: 9780335156870

Publisher: Open University Press, 1993

Synopsis

In the post-Cold War, post-Gulf War political environment of the Middle East, a debate about democracy and pluralism has begun. In this work, Heather Deegan challenges the view that political reform is unsustainable in the region, and examines the moves towards democratization which have recently taken place. She discusses individual countries on the basis of their political structures: monarchical, authoritarian, theocratic, confessional and multiparty. She considers factors in the democratizing process such as the institution of political parties, the re-introduction of elections, citizenship with associated rights and responsibilities and the role of Islam. Democracy is not confined solely to a liberal democratic model although political change and greater levels of participation may be viewed as steps paving the way for a fuller democratization in a liberal democratic sense. The author identifies certain constraints which tended to undermine political advances in the past: population mobility, communal division and the impact of the Cold War. She places the possibilities for political reform in the wider context of the Third World in order to assess the degree to which prospects for democracy in the Middle East correspond with general conclusions about democratization in the developing world.

About this title

About the Author

Heather Deegan is Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Middlesex University (England) and is an affiliate of the Near and Middle East Studies Centre at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Open University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0335156878
• ISBN 13: 9780335156870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160