The democratic imperative vs. the authoritarian impulse: The maghrib state between transition and terrorism

Middle East Journal

Volumn 59, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 537-558

  Entelis, John P ^a  

^a FORDHAM UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AUTHORITARIANISM; CIVIL SOCIETY; STATE ROLE; TERRORISM;

AFRICA; MAGHREB; NORTH AFRICA;

EID: 28844444702     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/59.4.11     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. A convincing case for democracy's primacy in both politics and economics is made by Joseph T. Siegle, Michael M. Weinstein, and Morton H. Halperin, "Why Democracies Excel," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 5 (September/October 2004), pp. 57-71.
2. For a partisan argument supporting the Initiative see Danielle Pletka, "Arabs on the Verge of Democracy," The New York Times, August 9, 2004. Another more credible albeit unexpected source of support for President George W. Bush's democratic initiative comes from Neil Hicks of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
3. Another more credible albeit unexpected source of support for President George W. Bush's democratic initiative comes from Neil Hicks of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. See Neil Hicks, "Bush Fires Up Mideast Reform," The Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2004.
4. Yet, despite these initial optimistic appraisals, the first meeting of Arab and Western leaders dedicated ostensibly to advancing political change in the Middle East under the rubric of "Forum for the Future" turned into a rehash of ongoing grievances against American support for Israel and a noticeable downplaying of any Washington-inspired political initiative to encourage democratic change in the Arab world. See Joel Brinkley, "U.S. Slows Bid to Advance Democracy in the Arab World," The New York Times, December 5, 2004.
5. See United Nations Development Programme/Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Human Development Report 2002: Creating Opportunities for Future Generations (NY: UNDP, 2002),
6. United Nations Development Programme/Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society (NY: UNDP, 2003),
7. and United Nations Development Programme/Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World (NY: UNDP, 2005).
8. An incisive comparative analysis of the relationship between Muslims and the state in major European countries is found in Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
9. On the "making" of religiously-inspired terrorists see Jessica Stern, Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill (New York: HarperCollins, 2003).
10. Detailed profiles of Muslim militants being radicalized within a European milieu can be found in Susan Sachs, "North Africans in Europe Said to Preach War, Enlisting Young Immigrants: How a Tunisian was Recruited - A Case Study," The New York Times, December 11, 2001;
11. Elaine Sciolino, "Portrait of the Arab as a Young Radical," The New York Times, September 22, 2002, p. 14;
12. Craig S. Smith, "A Long Fuse Links Tangier to Bombings in Madrid," The New York Times, March 28,2004, p. 20;
13. Craig S. Smith, "Europe Fears Islamic Converts May Give Cover for Extremism," The New York Times, July 19, 2004;
14. Craig S. Smith, "Web of Jihad Draws in an Immigrant Family in France," The New York Times, July 31, 2004;
15. and Lawrence Wright, "The Terror Web: Were the Madrid Bombings Part of a New, Far-Reaching Jihad Being Plotted on the Internet?' The New Yorker, August 2, 2004.
16. For an equally pessimistic projection extended to the whole of the Arab world, see Lisa Anderson, "Arab Democracy: Dismal Prospects," World Policy Journal (Fall 2001), pp. 53-60.
17. The functional role of civil society as a prelude to democracy's emergence in the Middle East and North Africa is presented by Augustus Richard Norton, ed., Civil Society in the Middle East, Volumes 1 and 2 (Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1995 and 1996).
18. A survey of state-society relations in the Maghrib is provided by John P. Entelis, ed., Islam, Democracy, and the State in North Africa (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997).
19. A representative example of incipient "democratic transition" taking place in the Arab world is found in Bahgat Korany and Paul Noble, eds., Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1995).
20. The most forceful expression of this concept is found in Fareed Zakaria, "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy," Foreign Affairs (November/ December 1997), pp. 22-43.
21. Daniel Brumberg, "Democratization in the Arab World? The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy," Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 4 (October 2002), p. 56.
22. Michael C. Hudson, Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977), p. 2.
23. See Jill Crystal, "Authoritarianism and its Adversaries in the Arab World," World Politics, Vol. 46, No. 2 (January 1994), pp. 262-289.
24. See Elie Kedourie, Democracy and Arab Political Culture (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1992)
25. and Hisham Sharabi, Neopatriarchy: A Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).
26. See Mohammed M. Hafez, Why Muslims Rebel: Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003).
27. See Nazih N. Ayubi, Over-Stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East (London: I.B. Tauris, 1995)
28. and Sami Zubaida, Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East (London: I.B. Tauris, 1993).
29. See Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Touchstone, 1996)
30. and Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (New York: The Modern Library, 2003).
31. See M. Steven Fish, "Islam and Authoritarianism," World Politics, Vol. 55, No. 1 (October 2002), pp. 4-37.
32. Crystal, "Authoritarianism," p. 263.
33. Eva Bellin, "The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective," Comparative Politics, Vol. 36, No. 2 (January 2004), pp. 144-146.
34. See also Marsha Pripstein Posusney and Michele Penner Angrist, eds., Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005).
35. As Muslim-majority countries become more fully democratic, as in Turkey, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, "Muslim" exceptionalism is now being refocused on the Arab world, which remains uniformly nondemocratic. See Alfred Stepan and Graeme B. Robertson, "Arab, Not Muslim, Exceptionalism," Journal of Democracy, Vol. 15, No. 4 (October 2004), pp. 140-146.
36. See also Alfred Stepan, "Religion, Democracy, and the 'Twin Tolerations,'" Journal of Democracy, Vol. 11, No. 4 (October 2000), pp. 37-57.
37. Brumberg, "Democratization," p. 57.
38. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 144.
39. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 148.
40. Ayubi, Overstating, p. 3.
41. Ayubi, Overstating, p. 3.
42. Larbi Sadiki, "Popular Uprisings and Arab Democratization," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (February 2000), p. 87.
43. Algeria's decade-old civil war has produced sizable journalistic and scholarly literature. The most recent that incorporates and synthesizes the relevant findings of many earlier studies, argued within a global perspective, is that of Lounis Aggoun and Jean-Baptiste Rivoire, Françalgérie: Crimes et mensonges d'etats [France-Algeria: Crimes and Lies of States] (Paris: LaDécouverte, 2004).
44. See also Hugh Roberts, The Battlefield Algeria 1988-2002: Studies in a Broken Polity (London: Verson, 2003)
45. and Youcef Bedjaoui, Abbas Aroua, and Meziane Ait-Larbi, eds., An Inquiry into the Algerian Massacres (Geneva: Hoggar, 1999).
46. A recent Paris Match interview with captured GSPC head Amiri Saïfi ("Abderrezak El Para") is provided by Patrick Forrestier, "Le Ben Laden du Sahel: Prisonnier du Desert," ["The Bin Laden of the Sahel: Prisoner of the Desert"] Paris Match, August 5-11, 2004, pp. 26-35.
47. A detailed investigation of American military operations in the Maghrib, Sahel, and other parts of Africa is presented by Jean-Philippe Rémy, "Les Etats-Unis renforcent leur dispositif antiterroriste dans plusieurs pays africains," ["The US Reinforces its Anti-terrorist Plan in Several African States"] Le Monde, March 5, 2004.
48. For a comprehensive multidisciplinary analysis of the Algerian Sahara's geostrategic importance see Jeremy Keenan, The Lesser Gods ofthe Sahara: Social Change and Contested Terrain amongst the Tuareg of Algeria (London: Frank Cass, 2004).
49. See United States Department of State, Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004 - Middle East and North Africa (Washington, D.C.: USDS, 2004), pp. 170-171, 185-187.
50. See Eric Goldstein, "Morocco's New Truth Commission: Turning the Page on Human Rights Abuses?" Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Arab Reform Bulletin (2004)(www.ceip.org).
51. See also Jean-Pierre Tuquoi, "Le Maroc s' efforce de tourner la page des 'années de plomb,'" ["Morocco Tries to Turn the Page on the 'Years of Lead'"] Le Monde, December 15, 2004.
52. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 144.
53. The most developed argument of Arab patrimonialism is found in Sharabi, Neopatriarchy.
54. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 143.
55. Contrasting assessments of Ben 'Ali's rule are presented by Emma C. Murphy, Economic and Political Change in Tunisia: From Bourguiba to Ben Ali (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), who critiques his authoritarianism,
56. and Andrew Borowiec, Modern Tunisia: A Democratic Apprenticeship (Westport, CT: Praeger 1998), who compliments the Tunisian leader's democratic aspirations.
57. More recent critical assessments can be found in Neil MacFarquhar, "Tunisia's Tangled Web is Sticking Point for Reform," The New York Times (June 25, 2004)
58. and Michael Slackman, "Tunisia's Two Faces of Progress," Los Angeles Times (June 10, 2002).
59. See Bellin, "Robustness," p. 149.
60. Sadiki, "Popular Uprisings," provides a contrasting interpretation arguing that "popular uprisings" do in fact result in regime reforms paving the way for "Arab democratization." He develops this argument more fully in Larbi Sadiki, The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).
61. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 150.
62. François Burgat, Face to Face with Political Islam (New York: I. B. Tauris, 2003), provides the most partisan argument regarding the contestatory role of Islamists.
63. For more nuanced interpretations see Quintan Wiktorowicz, "Conceptualizing Islamic Activism," ISIM Newsletter, #14 (June 2004), pp. 34-35,
64. Quintan Wiktorowicz, ed., Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004),
65. and Vickie, Langohr, "Of Islamists and Ballot Boxes: Rethinking the Relationship Between Islamisms and Electoral Politics," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33 (2001), pp. 591-610.
66. Florence Beaugé, "Paris et Alger rétablissent leur coopération militaire et vont signer un accord de défense," ["Paris and Algiers Reestablish their Military Cooperation and Are Going to Sign a Defense Agreement] Le Monde (July 20, 2004), elaborates on the deepening military and security relationship between Paris and Algiers.
67. Bellin, "Robustness," p. 151.
68. Stepan, "Twin Tolerations," p. 52.
69. For his part, Fish, "Islam and Authoritarianism," locates Islam's attitude towards women as the source of its authoritarianism.
70. A scholarly yet highly critical interpretation of Tunisia's "authoritarian syndrome" is presented by Michel Camau and Vincent Geisser, le Syndrome autoritaire: Politique en Tunisie de Bourguiba à Ben Ali [The Authoritarian Syndrome: Politics in Tunisia from Bourguiba to Ben 'Ali] (Paris: Presses des Sciences Po, 2003).
71. See José Maria Irujo, "The Series of Events that Led up to March 11," El Pais (Madrid)(May 13, 2004)(English edition).
72. The Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report: Tunisia (January 2005), pp. 13-16.
73. For election results, see The Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report: Tunisia (January 2005), pp. 13-16.
74. John P. Entelis, "The Sad State of Political Reform in Tunisia," Arab Reform Bulletin, Vol. 2, Issue 10 (November 2004)(www.ceip.org).
75. See Frédéric Chambon, "La double vie de Jamal Zougam," ["The Double Life of Jamal Zougam"] Le Monde, April 19, 2004.
76. Smith, "A Long Fuse," p.20.
77. A similar profile of Islamic radicalization applies to Mohammed Bouyeri, the 26-year old Dutch-Moroccan accused of assassinating Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam in November 2004 on the pretext that the controversial Dutch movie director was making anti-Islamic films. See Andrew Higgins, "Rude Awakening: A Brutal Killing Opens Dutch Eyes to Threat of Terror," The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 2004, pp. A1 and A11.
78. See Fetzer and Soper, Muslims and the State. Beurs is slang for European-born Arabs.
79. See Mohamed Sifaoui, Mes frères assassins [My Assassin Brothers] (Paris: Le Cherche Midi, 2003).
80. El Pais (Madrid), July 25, 2004.
81. See The New York Times, December 14, 2004
82. and Le Monde, October 20, 2004.
83. See Goldstein, "Morocco's New Truth Commission"
84. and Tuquoi, "Le Maroc."
85. See John P. Entelis, "Civil Society and the Authoritarian Temptation in Algerian Politics: Islamic Democracy vs. the Centralized State," in A.R. Norton, ed., Civil Society in the Middle East (Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1996), pp. 45-86
86. See Steven A. Cook, "Algeria's Elections: No Democratic Turning Point," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Arab Reform Bulletin, Vol. 2, Issue 4 (April 2004).
87. Le Monde, July 20, 2004, p. 4.
88. See John F. Burns, "Algeria: Remember that Name," The New York Times, January 2, 2000,
89. and Craig S. Smith, "Islam and Democracy: Algerians Try to Blaze a Trail," The New York Times, April 14, 2004.
90. See Murphy, Economic and Political Change in Tunisia.
91. See Forestier, "Le Ben Laden du Sahel."
92. International Crisis Group, "Islamism, Violence and Reform in Algeria," July 30, 2004.
93. Sadiki, "Popular Uprisings," p. 87.
94. See also Burhan Ghalioun, "The Persistence of Arab Authoritarianism," Journal of Democracy, Vol. 15, No. 4 (October 2004), pp. 126-132.
95. Robert A. Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1971).
96. Barrington Moore, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (New York: Penguin, 1966).
97. Eva Bellin, "Contingent Democrats: Industrialists, Labor, and Democratization in Late-Developing Countries," World Politics, Vol. 52, No. 1 (January 2000), pp. 175-205.
98. See also Eva Bellin, Stalled Democracy: Capital, Labor, and the Paradox of State Sponsored Development (Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press, 2002).
99. Crystal, "Authoritarianism," p. 271.
100. Crystal, "Authoritarianism," p. 271.
101. Stepan, "Twin Tolerations," p. 39.
102. Stepan, "Twin Tolerations," p. 39.
103. Stepan, "Twin Tolerations," p. 39.
104. Hafez, Why Muslims Rebel, p. xv.
105. This point was made abundantly clear by Arab leaders at the Forum for the Future conference in Rabat on December 11-12, 2004.
106. Brumberg, "Democratization in the Arab World," p. 64.
107. Brumberg, "Democratization in the Arab World," p. 66.
108. Brumberg, "Democratization in the Arab World," p. 67.
109. Rashid Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East (New York: Beacon Press, 2004), p. 69.