Why Do Ruling Parties Extend Authoritarian Rule? Examining the Role of Elite Institutions and Mass Organization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora John Reuter
2021 ◽  
pp. 174619792098136
Author(s):  
Sansom Milton

In this paper, the role of higher education in post-uprising Libya is analysed in terms of its relationship with transitional processes of democratization and civic development. It begins by contextualising the Libyan uprising within the optimism of the ‘Arab Spring’ transitions in the Middle East. Following this, the relationship between higher education and politics under the Qadhafi regime and in the immediate aftermath of its overthrow is discussed. A case-study of a programme designed to support Tripoli University in contributing towards democratisation will then be presented. The findings of the case-study will be reflected upon to offer a set of recommendations for international actors engaging in political and civic education in conflict-affected settings, in particular in the Middle East.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 579-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamia Karim

In 2011, the government of Bangladesh began an investigation into the financial dealings of the Grameen Bank that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. This disciplining of a world-renowned institution and its founder by the state reconfigures the altered relationship between the state and NGOs in Bangladesh. This article investigates this about-face between the state and NGOs from the 1990s, when their relationship was characterized as ‘partners in development’, to the late 2000s when the state saw the leading NGOs and their leaders as potential political adversaries. In Bangladesh, the former relationship of a weak state vis-à-vis the powerful, western-funded NGO has been recalibrated. Under the present condition of authoritarian rule, the state is willing to accept the role of the NGO as a development actor but not as a political contender. This article examines this shifting relationship between the state and NGOs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Jun Mawalidin

<p class="05Abstrak">Abstract</p><p class="06IsiAbstrak">The teachings of Islam for the Sasak people get a very high place in carrying out their daily religious life in accordance with the teachings of their religion. The purpose of this study is to analyze theoretical analysis on Islamic religious traditions that have existed in the Sasak community since the beginning of their entry, placing more emphasis on strengthening religious practices or rituals that at a glance place great importance on religious expression. This research method uses the library research method about the role of the Nahdlatul Wathan Islamic mass organization figure in Lombok. The results showed that Nahdlatul Wathan focused on three areas of development, namely education, social and da'wah. The presence of Tuan Guru on the island of a thousand mosques gives a different feel. Bahklan is a characteristic of society, its influence can be felt in various fields, not only in the field of education, in politics but also in the executive field. </p><p class="06IsiAbstrak"><strong>Keywords:</strong> Tuan Guru, Community, Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan.</p><p class="061AbstrakIndonesia">Abstrak</p><p class="061IsiAbstrakIndoneia">Ajaran Islam bagi masyarakat sasak mendapatkan tempat yang sangat tinggi dalam menjalankan kehidupan keagamaannya sehari-hari sesuai dengan ajaran agama yang dianut. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah melakukan telaah teori analisis pada Tradisi keagamaan Islam yang terdapat di masyarakat Sasak sejak awal masuknya, lebih menekankan pada penguatan-penguatan amalan atau ritual keagamaan yang secara sepintas sangat mementingkan ekspresi keagamaan. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan metode <em>library research</em> tentang peranan tokoh ormas islam nahdlatul wathan yang ada di lombok. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Nahdlatul Wathan fokus pada tiga bidang pembangunan, yaitu pendidikan, sosial dan dakwah. Kehadiran Tuan Guru di pulau seribu masjid memberikan nuansa yang berbeda. Bahklan merupakan ciri khas masyarakat, pengaruhnya dapat dirasakan di berbagai bidang, tidak hanya di bidang pendidikan, di bidang politik tetapi juga di bidang eksekutif.  </p><p class="05Abstrak"><strong>Kata kunci:</strong> Tuan Guru,<em> </em>Masyarakat, Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan.</p>


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Nelson

How does religion shape regime types, and regime transitions, in Muslim-majority states? Focusing on Pakistan, this chapter examines the limited role of religious groups and religious ideas in driving political transitions between military and civilian-led regimes. Since the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan in 1947, civilian-led regimes have been removed in three military coups (1958, 1977, 1999); only one of these (1977) was framed in religious terms. Protesters later helped to oust Pakistan’s military regimes in 1969–1970, 1988, and 2007–2008. Again, these protests stressed nonreligious more than religious demands. Within Pakistan, ostensibly “democratizing” transitions have typically preserved separate domains (e.g., the security sector) for military decision-making; these reserved domains have limited the scope of democracy. This chapter, however, moves beyond military to ostensibly religious limitations on democracy, noting that, while nonreligious protests often figure in transitions away from authoritarian rule, religious constitutional provisions diminishing the rights of non-Muslims have produced what scholars of hybrid regimes call an “exclusionary” or “illiberal” democracy.


2017 ◽  
pp. 154-182
Author(s):  
David T. Buckley

How has the Philippines’ benevolent secularism withstood challenges brought on by authoritarian rule and religious pluralization over the past quarter century? This chapter documents the role of religious-secular and interfaith partnerships in steering institutional change in Philippines in two periods: the “People Power” Revolution against the Marcos dictatorship and more recent contention over reproductive health legislation. Religious-secular and interfaith alliances helped topple the Marcos regime, and more recently have alleviated some tensions related to reproductive health legislation. The chapter traces elite alliances through field interviews and records of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and then documents similar consensus in public opinion data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Pratt ◽  
Dina Rezk

Unprecedented levels of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood, and the widespread acceptance of this violence by Egyptians following the July 2013 military coup, have been under-examined by scholars of both critical security studies and Middle East politics, reflecting implicit assumptions that state violence is unexceptional beyond Europe. This article explores how the deployment of such levels of violence was enabled by a securitization process in which the Egyptian military successfully appropriated popular opposition to Muslim Brotherhood rule, constructing the group as an existential threat to Egypt and justifying special measures against it. The article builds on existing critiques of the Eurocentrism of securitization theory, alongside the writings of Antonio Gramsci, to further refine its application to non-democratic contexts. In addition to revealing the exceptionalism of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood and highlighting the important role of nominally non-state actors in constructing the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to Egypt, the article also signals the role of securitization in re-establishing authoritarian rule in the wake of the 2011 uprising. Thus, we argue that securitization not only constitutes a break from ‘normal politics’ but may also be integral to the reconstitution of ‘normal politics’ following a period of transition.


Author(s):  
Akbarzadeh Shahram

This chapter examines the limited role of Islam in shaping the public space of post-Soviet Central Asia. It documents Soviet instruments of administrative control on Islam in Central Asia and then examines the behavior of the incumbent regimes which inherited this Soviet legacy. It shows that despite strong expectations of Central Asia's transition from authoritarian rule to democracy following the Soviet collapse, the incumbent elite managed to thwart that process and return to the familiar modes of centralized authoritarian rule. The chapter concludes by exploring the prospects of Islam's political role in Central Asia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Bishara

The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) emerged as a major player in the country's transition from authoritarianism. Existing explanations - focusing on authoritarian legacies, the degree of trade union autonomy from the state, and labor's material incentives to support democratization - do not sufficiently account for the high-profile nature of the union's political role in Tunisia's transition. Instead, as this article argues, the importance of unions' pre-authoritarian legacy is key to understanding the role of unions in the transition from authoritarian rule. If unions enter the regime formation stage with a history of political struggle and with strong organizational capacities, they are more likely to develop a degree of internal autonomy that makes it difficult for authoritarian incumbents to disempower them. The article employs a historical institutional approach and draws on fieldwork and interviews with labor activists in Tunisia.


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