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  • October 2015
  • Article
  • Journal of Democracy

After the Arab Spring: Are Secular Parties the Answer?

By: Mieczysław Boduszyński, Kristin Fabbe and Christopher Lamont
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Abstract

After the "Arab Spring" and the initial democratic reforms in Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), why has democratic progress remained so elusive in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? In recent years, that question has preoccupied numerous scholars, commentators, and policy makers. Behind most of their analyses, we believe, lurks an assumption that secular parties are intrinsically better stewards of constitutional liberalism than their Islamist counterparts. Yet have non-Islamist parties really been superior agents of democratic change? We test this by surveying secular parties in three countries: Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. In order to assess each party's liberal credentials, we analyze each along four key dimensions: 1) history of exclusivist and statist positions, 2) ties to the military, 3) past political behavior, and 4) internal party democracy.

Keywords

Religion; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; North Africa; Egypt; Middle East; Turkey

Citation

Boduszyński, Mieczysław, Kristin Fabbe, and Christopher Lamont. "After the Arab Spring: Are Secular Parties the Answer?" Journal of Democracy 26, no. 4 (October 2015): 125–139.
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About The Author

Kristin E. Fabbe

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • State-Formation, Statist Islam, and Regime Instability: Evidence from Turkey By: Kristin Fabbe
  • Babban Gona: Great Farm By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz
  • Fairness or Control: What Determines Elected Local Leaders' Support for Hosting Refugees in Their Community? By: Kristin Fabbe, Eleni Kyrkopoulou, Konstantinos Matakos and Asli Unan
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