The Debate For Democracy During The Middle East

In the late 20th century, the world was shaken with the news of two major Islamic revolutions. The first one happened at Iran and the second one happened in Afghanistan. As a result Islamic law and religious oppression ruled both of these countries. Although religious fundamentalism played a big role in these revolutions, both of them had very different cultural, political and economic reasons for happening.

As described in the report the persistence of an authoritarian presence in the Arab world holds steadfast by the lack of an independent middle class, which does not allow feelings of independence to

Many things have occurred throughout history which have impacted the instability in the middle east. World War One, and all of the treaties, alliances, and declarations that came about due to that have affected todays time and the decisions the United States Military makes regarding the issues of the middle east. America has learned a lot from the past, and this has ultimately benefited them in the end. The United States is more able to make educated decisions now because of all the past occurrences.

Rami G. Khouri discusses his opinion on the lingering issues of the Middle East in a talk held on October 27th, at 7:00pm in the Koffler building. The room resembled more of an auditorium packed with millennials, senior citizens and age groups in between, all with their full attention on the speaker. Throughout his talk, Khouri explained how the last century has been exceptionally problematic for the Arabians due to zero political development, the Arab Israeli conflict, and the Arabian revolution. Khouri’s main argument is that there is an entirely new situation at hand due to Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia currently driving the actual developments of the Middle East and the Superpowers unhelpful ways.

“Today, anti-democratic trends are on the rise, making this a propitious moment to assess their implications both for the region and for US interests and policy.” - Significant

The evolution of domestic, regional, and international dynamics has directly influenced the relationship between the Islamism and Joran. Insight into the history, ideology, and platform of Jordan’s most organized Islamist political party Islamic Action Front can offer a plan of action to not only answer the calls for dignity heard throughout the Arab Spring, but also to counter radical Islamic militant movements such as Daesh. The Muslim Brotherhood had the most to gain from the introduction of Liberalization, however when the National Charter was ratified a series of set backs, including an opening for the establishment of political parties and the one man, one vote electoral law had diminished the Islamist majority in the Lower House of Parliament. After failing to create reform though playing by the rules of the game, coupled with a Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty, the Muslim Brotherhood and its political party Islamic Action Front announced a boycott of the 1997 Lower Parliament Elections. Until today, the Islamist strategy of engaging in the Lower Parliament, boycotting elections, and protesting in the streets has failed in producing a positive outcome for their

Furthermore, the West in general and the United States in particular, has been accused of, and rightly so, holding the Arab-Islamic world to a double standard. Historically and contemporarily the United States has supported repressive regimes such as those in Saudi Arabia, Iran under the Shah, and Pakistan under Zia ul-Haq, when doing so was in its political and military interests. Support of these repressive regimes was tendered while simultaneously speaking of freedom and “supporting” the democratization of the Muslim world. As a result, it is likely that cited incompatibilities are not between Islam and democracy per se, but rather between Islam and attempts at compelled democratization by

In the west, the possibility of a successful democracy in the Islamic world is still in question. This is due in part to the significant revolutions that have and are still taking place in many Muslim lead countries. These concerns stem from the possibility that a true democracy in Islamic lands may lead to Islamic democrats seeking reconciliation of human rights and civil liberties under strict Islamic ruling. Needless to say, an Islamic democracy is perceived as a threat; with good reason. Decades of anti-Islam aggravation succeeded in corrupting the image of Islam in many western countries, depicting Islam as authoritarian and anti-democratic.

Some scholars are arguing about the contradiction between Islam and Democracy while others say that there is no official decisive evidence in the main Islamic scripts. According the Islam the leader (khalifa) of the country or nation should be chosen by the people, but there is no clear method for re-elect after a period of time which make it a hesitation point in Islamic ideology. Others think that all these issues should be taken from the modern books where the movement of society needs are more applicable toward the new generation and the first world. However, the Middle East has a different story in the process of democratizing and still have a long way through since it has both Islam, Christianity, Jewish and other ethnic groups which make it more complicated in term of dealing with the process toward the democracy. The Arabic world has big range of counties which have many similarities, but also many differences, therefore we will focus on the African region in particular Egypt and Tunisia.

there are many positive signs that the muslim world are moving towards more liberal democratic societies. As communist development , islamic and secular governance fail to deliver solutions to growing social and economic needs, Muslim intellectuals started to advocate democracy and human rights. They did so not only to achieve modernity, development, and dignity, but also to ensure a better practice of Islam. The strong pressures toward liberalization, are caused by the media providing many endless alternative governing ways from other countries.

The majority of Middle Eastern countries have suffered for decades under authoritarian regimes and have not succeeded at reforming their oppressive policies or at democratizing. There have been arguments made stating that it is nearly impossible for the Middle East to democratize and that as a region, democracy will not work. There was also another argument made stating that Islam does not allow for democracy to exist. Both these arguments ignore the history of the region, in which foreign powers have had a lot of influence, and have created the oppressive regimes that are present currently in the region. Foreign factors have played a great role in inhibiting any reforms from taking place in the region. Foreign powers entered the Middle East for its resources, took what they needed from the region then abandoned it. These countries were required to build and strengthen their economies suddenly after years of being controlled by foreign powers. The curse of oil in the Middle East has also played a role in inhibiting political and economic reforms from taking place. Oil rich countries have had significantly less political reforms over the past decades, as seen clearly in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, regional factors such as the Israeli occupation of Palestine, have also inhibited reform in that part of the region. Foreign and regional factors have inhibited political and economic reform in the Middle East, however, each country in the Middle East has had a different history

The Arab Spring refers to the revolts that arose independently and spread through the Arab country in 2011. The origin of these uprisings was in Tunisia late in the year 2010 and spread to other nations in the Arab world like Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. The Middle East commonly considered to be the hot-spot for tensions and instabilities. The Arab spring increased the level of tension in the states with several implications on the region’s security. The events of the Arab Spring lasted for three years. According to Elfatih Abdel Salam (119), the Arab Spring has led to changes in the Middle East as well as exacerbate other problems. Early 2011, the Arab awakening commenced where cataclysmic events of the Arab Spring initiated. Among the changes that arose because of the Arab Spring was regional security. Hence, the essence of this paper is to appraise the impacts on security.

In December 2010, the Arab Spring began and created a collective popular movement to takedown authoritarian figures for more viable options. This paper poses the question: Why did the Democratization process differ between Tunisia and Egypt? The popular uprisings in the Middle-East had different effects on their governments mostly because of the difference in the democratization process.

While the Western world today is mainly interested in radical Islam and its posing a serious challenge to civil liberties as well as democratic countries all over the world, Muslim countries are to bipolarities within themselves. One of the most expressed forms of the conflict in many Muslim countries today takes place between secular and Islamic discourse. While the secular wing of the debate is sometimes represented the state elite, the media and / or the military, the Islamic language best expressed between the religious and social groups, if the chance given, in the political parties within the state structure. Secularization is one of the essential political issues in International Relations theory and practice. The separation of the

Throughout the twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first, a leading question arose regarding Islam and its traditions. This question asked whether Islam can be compatible with democracy. Seemed as a simple question, such an inquiry requires an in-depth look at the matter at hand. When one asks whether Islam is compatible with democracy, one needs to analyze the definition of democracy. According to Webster’s Dictionary, democracy is “a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or their elected agents under a free electoral system.” Such is the definition that mainly pertains to western democracy and western thought. What many tend to forget is that democracy should not be