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Presidential Address 1987: Democratization and the Problem of Legitimacy in Middle East Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Michael C. Hudson
Michael C. Hudson*
Affiliation:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University
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Extract

When I told some of my colleagues and students that I wanted to address the question of democratization in Middle East politics at the annual meeting, I was not surprised at their reactions, which were mainly incredulous. If ever a topic were passé, surely it was this one. Not only was the experience of parliamentary democracy brief and unhappy, it also had ended by the middle 1950s. Furthermore, the liberal modernization paradigm that had underpinned earlier forecasts of democracy was itself largely discarded. In addition, my friends argued, how could I try to make a case for democratization when my own writing on Arab politics portrayed fragmented, disoriented societies and unstructured, insecure political environments in which the race between societal demands and state capabilities—no matter which side was “ahead”—could hardly be conducive to democracy. Skeptical colleagues from Egypt and other Arab countries also raised the troublesome question of academic and ideological ethnocentrism: should one even ask about prospects for democratization?

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , December 1987 , pp. 157 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 1988

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References

Selected References

Alavi, Hamza, “The State in Post-Colonial Societies: Pakistan and Bangladesh,” New Left Review 74 (July-August 1982) 59–82.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa, “The State in the Middle East and North Africa,” Comparative Politics, October 1987, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1986.Google Scholar
Ben-Dor, Gabriel, State and Conflict in the Middle East: Emergence of the Postcolonial State. Praeger, New York 1983.Google Scholar
Bianchi, Robert, Interest Groups and Political Development in Turkey. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binder, Leonard, “The Natural History of Development Theory,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 29.1 (January 1986) 3–33.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A., ed., Regimes and Oppositions. Yale University Press, New Haven 1973.Google Scholar
Harik, Iliya, “The Origins of the Arab State System,” in State and Integration in the Arab World, edited by Luciani, G.. Croom Helm, London 1987.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O., “On Democracy in Latin America,” The New York Review of Books, April 10, 1985, pp. 41–42.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “State, Society and Legitimacy: A Study in Arab Political Possibilities in the 1990s,” in The Next Arab Decade, edited by Sharabi, H.. Westview Press, Boulder 1988.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “Public Opinion, Foreign Policy, and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Arab Politics,” Journal of Arab Affairs 8.1 (Spring 1987) 131–180.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “The Breakdown of Democracy in Lebanon,” Journal of International Affairs 38.2 (Winter 1985) 277–292.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P., Political Order in Changing Societies. Yale University Press, New Haven 1968.Google Scholar
Ibrahim, Sa’d al-Din, Ittijāhāt al-ra’iyy al-‘am al-‘arabī nahwa masa‘lat al-wahda (Tendencies in Arab public opinion toward the problem of unity). Center for Arab Unity Studies, Beirut 1980.Google Scholar
Issawi, Charles, “Economic and Social Foundations of Democracy in the Middle East,” in The Middle East in Transition, edited by Laqueur, Walter Z., pp. 33–51. Praeger, 1958.Google Scholar
Landau, Jacob M., Ozbudun, Ergun, and Tachau, Frank, ed., Electoral Politics in the Middle East. Croom Helm, London; Hoover Institution Press, Stanford 1980.Google Scholar
Layne, Linda L., “Tribesmen as Citizens: ‘Primordial Ties’ and Democracy in Rural Jordan,” chapter 5 of Elections in the Middle East. Westview Press, Boulder 1987.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan and Steppan, Alfred, ed., The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend, Democracy in Plural Societies. Yale University Press, New Haven 1977.Google Scholar
Luciani, Giacomo, “Economic Foundations of Democracy and Authoritarianism,” paper presented to the International Conference on Contemporary Arab Studies, The American University in Cairo, October 1987.Google Scholar
Luciani, Giacomo, ed., State and Integration in the Arab World. 4 vols. Croom Helm, London 1987.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo, Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics. Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1973.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo, “Tensions in the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian State and the Question of Democracy,” in The New Authoritarianism in Latin America, edited by Collier, David. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1979.Google Scholar
Özbudun, Ergun, “Modernization of Political Structures: The Ottoman Empire and Its Successor States,” typescript, 1986.Google Scholar
Petras, James, “State, Regime, and the Democratization Muddle,” LASA Forum (Latin American Studies Association) 18.4 (Winter 1988) 9–12.Google Scholar
Sivers, Peter von, “Retreating States and Expanding Societies: The State Autonomy/Informal Civil Society Dialectic in the Middle East and North Africa,” American Council of Learned Societies-Social Science Research Council Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East, 1986.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda, “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research,” in Bringing the State Back In, edited by Evans, P., Rueschemeyer, D., and Skocpol, T.. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York 1983.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John, The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1983.Google Scholar
Alavi, Hamza, “The State in Post-Colonial Societies: Pakistan and Bangladesh,” New Left Review 74 (July-August 1982) 59–82.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa, “The State in the Middle East and North Africa,” Comparative Politics, October 1987, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar
Anderson, Lisa, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1986.Google Scholar
Ben-Dor, Gabriel, State and Conflict in the Middle East: Emergence of the Postcolonial State. Praeger, New York 1983.Google Scholar
Bianchi, Robert, Interest Groups and Political Development in Turkey. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binder, Leonard, “The Natural History of Development Theory,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 29.1 (January 1986) 3–33.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A., ed., Regimes and Oppositions. Yale University Press, New Haven 1973.Google Scholar
Harik, Iliya, “The Origins of the Arab State System,” in State and Integration in the Arab World, edited by Luciani, G.. Croom Helm, London 1987.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O., “On Democracy in Latin America,” The New York Review of Books, April 10, 1985, pp. 41–42.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “State, Society and Legitimacy: A Study in Arab Political Possibilities in the 1990s,” in The Next Arab Decade, edited by Sharabi, H.. Westview Press, Boulder 1988.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “Public Opinion, Foreign Policy, and the Crisis of Legitimacy in Arab Politics,” Journal of Arab Affairs 8.1 (Spring 1987) 131–180.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael C., “The Breakdown of Democracy in Lebanon,” Journal of International Affairs 38.2 (Winter 1985) 277–292.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P., Political Order in Changing Societies. Yale University Press, New Haven 1968.Google Scholar
Ibrahim, Sa’d al-Din, Ittijāhāt al-ra’iyy al-‘am al-‘arabī nahwa masa‘lat al-wahda (Tendencies in Arab public opinion toward the problem of unity). Center for Arab Unity Studies, Beirut 1980.Google Scholar
Issawi, Charles, “Economic and Social Foundations of Democracy in the Middle East,” in The Middle East in Transition, edited by Laqueur, Walter Z., pp. 33–51. Praeger, 1958.Google Scholar
Landau, Jacob M., Ozbudun, Ergun, and Tachau, Frank, ed., Electoral Politics in the Middle East. Croom Helm, London; Hoover Institution Press, Stanford 1980.Google Scholar
Layne, Linda L., “Tribesmen as Citizens: ‘Primordial Ties’ and Democracy in Rural Jordan,” chapter 5 of Elections in the Middle East. Westview Press, Boulder 1987.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan and Steppan, Alfred, ed., The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend, Democracy in Plural Societies. Yale University Press, New Haven 1977.Google Scholar
Luciani, Giacomo, “Economic Foundations of Democracy and Authoritarianism,” paper presented to the International Conference on Contemporary Arab Studies, The American University in Cairo, October 1987.Google Scholar
Luciani, Giacomo, ed., State and Integration in the Arab World. 4 vols. Croom Helm, London 1987.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo, Modernization and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics. Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1973.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo, “Tensions in the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian State and the Question of Democracy,” in The New Authoritarianism in Latin America, edited by Collier, David. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1979.Google Scholar
Özbudun, Ergun, “Modernization of Political Structures: The Ottoman Empire and Its Successor States,” typescript, 1986.Google Scholar
Petras, James, “State, Regime, and the Democratization Muddle,” LASA Forum (Latin American Studies Association) 18.4 (Winter 1988) 9–12.Google Scholar
Sivers, Peter von, “Retreating States and Expanding Societies: The State Autonomy/Informal Civil Society Dialectic in the Middle East and North Africa,” American Council of Learned Societies-Social Science Research Council Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East, 1986.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda, “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research,” in Bringing the State Back In, edited by Evans, P., Rueschemeyer, D., and Skocpol, T.. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York 1983.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John, The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1983.Google Scholar