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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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3 Schools of thought in Comparative Politics
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Rational Choice (quantitative analysis)
Cultural Analysis (area study) Structural Analysis (mix of first 2) |
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Case study
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Intensive study of a single case for purpose of understanding larger idea
Benefits: Descriptive, depth of analysis instead of breadth, comparability instead of generalization |
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Most important issues in Middle East
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Democratization, persistence of authoritarianism, non state actors, international relations
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Regime
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Set of formal and informal rules that are used to select leaders and policies and thus determine how efficiently and for whose benefit resources are used
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State
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Entity that claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a given territory
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Types of regimes (5)
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Liberal Democracy- Freedom, pluralism, rule of law plus election
Electoral Democracy- Free and Fair elections only (Lebanon, Turkey) Competitive authoritarianism- Regular elections where incumbents use coercive means to win, but opposition does have chance to win Hegemonic authoritarianism (most middle east states)- Hold regular elections, but elections not actually competitive; widespread violation of political rights Closed authoritarianism- No elections, banned opposition |
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Monarchy
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Constitutional- King or monarch acts as head of state within written constitutional parameters
Non-Constitutional- absolute power of king |
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Republic
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Single party-One party dominates political landscape, no other parties allowed, ruling party chooses who is head of state
Dominant party- Other parties are allowed to compete but one party clearly has advantage Multi party- Democratic |
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How authoritarian is MENA?
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Frequently singled out as non-democratic, passed by waves of democratization, leaders stay in power for a while, most states are hegemonic authoritarian, MENA has a few high performing states compared to rest of Arab world
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Prerequisite Literature on why there is still authoritarianism
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Modernization- urbanization, growth of middle class, increased literacy, rise in GDP
Ethnic fractionalization- national unity is the only necessary and sufficient precondition for democracy Economic performance- high levels of economic performance=more democracy |
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Political Economy on why there is still authoritarianism
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Economic shocks or demands lead to calls for political refrom
Rentierism- no taxation=no democracy |
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Cultural Explanations for why there is still authoritarianism
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Colonial heritage, Islam and democracy not compatible, gender explanation
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Geostrategic Issues for why there is still authoritarianism
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Arab-Israeli conflict why there is western support for coercive regimes
Conflict provides excuse for building up military maintaining fear Natural Resource curse |
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Legitimacy of Author. regimes
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Emergency rule and clientalism used to handle threats to legitimacy
Monarchies more likely to be legitimate than republic |
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Hybrid Regime Types
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Electoral democracy- Free and fair elections only
Comp. author- Regular elections, but coercive means and opposition really has no chance at winning Liberalized Autocracy- Pluralism, controlled elections, selective repression, trade off between pluralism and autocracy |
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Patron-Client Relationship/ Clientalism
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Regime is patron and client is legislator. Trade favors for loyalty
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Characteristics of hybrid regimes
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1. Elections not fair and free
2. Fallacy of electoralism- just because you have elections does not mean you are a democracy 3. Patron-Client 4. Vibrant Civil society- many restrictions, gives appearance of fairness 5. Strong legal restrictions 6. Strong military |
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First Lady Phenomenon
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First ladies of middle east states set up own NGO’s to make regime look good
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Turkey as Liberal Democracy
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Parliamentry democracy and fair elections but strong coercive military
AKP Islamist party threat to secular nature Because they aligned with west during Cold war they became democratic |
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Israel as Liberal Democracy
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Parliamentary democracy
Liberal democracy…for now Political fragmentation Coalition instability Tension between Jewish state and democracy |
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What will bring about Arab Democracy
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Contagion, shift in US policy towards conditional assistance, severe drop in oil prices
Rentierism is combination of western aid and oil money so take away one or both and state suffers |
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Civil Society
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Part of society (formal and informal orgs and movements, individual actors) that operates between the state and family
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Role of civil society
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Tocquevillian: train democrats, socialize citizens into democratic norms of tolerance, pluralism, and deliberation
Social Capital: build trust and networks, make government more accountable to citizen demands Interest articulation: citizen mobilization, expression |
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Civil Society in Democracy
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Fully independent from state
Creates social capital that turns citizens into democrats Aggregate interests of multiple individuals allowing for more successful interest articulation to the state People are too weak alone to cause change Watchdog, keeps state in check Promotes good values |
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Civil society in MENA
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Not independent of state
Oppositional vs Democratic CS 2 functions (pressure state to enact democratic reforms, provide goods and services that gov does not) |
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Formal Civil Society
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Parties and elections- Allow citizens to articulate interest, mobilize votes, support certain policy positions and interest groups, weak, regime bias
NGOs Institutions |
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Opposition movements
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Informal civil society
Include formal opposition parties as well as informal movements Focus on human rights, women’s rights, and democracy promotion NGO’s Islamist Groups |
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Groups that make up civil society
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NGO’s
Charitable orgs Professional parties (professions are mandated to join) Informal networks Political parties |
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Democracy Civil Society Orgs
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Bring democracy to Arab world
Supported by international donors Bush admin. Big supporter post 9-11 Backlash against civil society today because of bureaucratic hurdles/legal hurdles, robust security apparatuses, incoherent organization |
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Service CSOs
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Main goal to provide goods and services (health, education, culture, poverty) that is regime is unwilling/unable to provide
More successful than democracy CSOs Smaller more tangible goals, less threatening to regime Economic issues have reduced funding for services regime can provide making CSO’s a niche |
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Challenges to Civil Society
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Legal restrictions
Co-optation by the regime (get some access to gov. but not autonomous) Parallel GONGOs compete for resources Funding Lack of professionalization and transparency Inability to cooperate-divide and rule |
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Islamist Movement
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Organization that advocates an increased role of Islamic ideology and principles for the state
Started with intent to implement Sharia law, saw futile and changed stance Advocates justice, reduction of economic disparities, anti-corruption |
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Types of Islamist Movements
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Fundamentalist, Reformist, militant
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Fundamentalist Islamist Party
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Complete return to sharia law
Unite all Muslim states (ummah) Usually illegal because want to overthrow gov |
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Militant Islamist Party
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Hamas and Hezbollah
Maintain military wing separate from political wing Continue to promote violence to achieve goals |
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Reformist/Liberal Islamist Party
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Muslim Brotherhood
Majority of parties in MENA Allow for multitude of rights and perspectives to be represented within Islamic framework Renounce use of violence Willing to participate in existing political structure Religious goals but with incremental approach |
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Trade offs of Islamist Parties participating in elections
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Require legitimacy-need gov acceptance and popular support
Must renounce goal of creating all Islamic state Accept legitimacy of individual Arab states Accept idea that being part of political system is acceptable means of achieving goals |
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Hizballah
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Founded in 1982 during Lebanese Civil War
Legitimate, non extremist group that uses violence in external area Has both political and armed wing Uses threat of violence to wield influence Outside support from Iran and Syria Ruling coalition since Jan 25 2011 |
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Hamas
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Started in 1987 during Intifada, offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood
Frequentlty uses violence vs Israel and Palestinian Rivals No signs of moderating 2007 overtook Gaza, not recognized by international community |
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Muslim Brotherhood
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Founded in 1928 by Hassan Al Bana
Most orgs that exist today are offshoots Focuses on Islamic ideology and activism Mantain commitment to Islam and provision of social service Most popular opposition movement in Egypt, banned |
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Issues facing women
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Education- Women more illiterate, enrollment in schools lower than men
Economic participation- low labor force participation and high unemployment Health- High rates of mortality during birth Political participation- lowest political representation in world, work with political parties and NGOs to help cause, successful at participating in media and press BUT MEN HAVE LITTLE RIGHTS AS WELL |
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Why are women repressed
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Patriarchal political systems and societies
Gendered norms and expectations State policy Legally entrenched discrimination Quotas for representation Historical circumstances |
