This category of democracies is too diverse for an exemplar to be useful, and therefore we will deal separately in this chapter with Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey. The fact that these countries are so diverse, however, raises the question of whether the category of “democratic” is a meaningful one and, if so, which of these countries really deserves to be included in it.

Real democracies in the MENA?

The conventional view is that only Israel really qualifies. Indeed, only Israel has consistently managed to change its government through free and fair elections, the single best indicator of democracy. So by that single measure, Israel is the only established democracy in the MENA. This definition is too restrictive, however, and overlooks the similarities of these states. Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey have all had elections resulting in significant changes in their governments, although such elections are either ultimately indecisive (in the case of Iran), punctuated by military interventions (in the case of Turkey), or subject to considerable external influence, as in Lebanon, especially during the 1990s. So these are at least “one-time” democracies, if not established ones. The transfer of governmental power through elections, even if uncommon, nevertheless sets these states apart from both the praetorian republics and the monarchies.

As the existence of free and fair elections resulting in governmental change suggests, the MENA democracies have all managed to institutionalize more effectively than praetorian republics or monarchies peaceful means for political competition over incumbency and formulation of public policy.