The Military in the Arab World, from Authoritarian Regimes to Transitional Settings and

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Droz-Vincent
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Military

Princes and Parliaments in the Arab World

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Herb
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World

Several Arab monarchies have held reasonably free elections to parliaments, though all remain authoritarian. This article compares the Arab monarchies with parliaments in other parts of the world, including both those that became democracies, and those that did not. From this I derive a set of prerequisites, potential pitfalls, and expected stages in the monarchical path toward democracy. This helps us to understand not only the democratic potential of the parliamentary experiments in the Arab monarchies, but also the role these parliaments play in the political life of these authoritarian regimes.

Active and Passive Citizenship in the Arab World

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel Meijer
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Passive Mode ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Citizenship Regimes

This article argues that the current crisis of relations between states and citizens in the Arab Middle East cannot just be traced to the rise of postcolonial authoritarian regimes but further back, to the rise of the modern state in the early 19th century. The development of modern citizenship regimes has not empowered citizens, it has instead led to a more passive mode of citizenship. After a historical discussion of the various ruling bargains in modern regional history, the article concludes with a discussion of ongoing protests demanding more active citizenship regimes.

Israeli Intelligence: Organization, Failures, and Successes

2010 ◽  
pp. 805-822
Author(s):  
Ephraim Kahana
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Technical Data ◽  
Intelligence Gathering ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
The Military

The State of Israel was established only in 1948, but in its fifty-seven years of existence, its intelligence community has been one of the most professional and effective in the world. The Israel Mossad has become the leading agency in Israel's success in the conflict with the Arab states. Its mission not only includes that of ascertaining the plans and strengths of the Arab military forces opposing Israel but also the work of combating Arab terrorism in Israel and abroad against Israeli and Jewish targets, collecting sensitive technical data, and conducting political-liaison and propaganda operations. The Israel intelligence community is composed of four separate components: the Mossad is responsible for intelligence gathering and operations in foreign countries; the Israeli Security Agency controls internal security and intelligence within the occupied territories; the Military Intelligence is responsible for collecting military, geographic, and economic intelligence, particularly in the Arab world and along Israel's borders; and the Center for Political Research in the Foreign Ministry prepares analysis for government policymakers based on raw intelligence and analytical papers. This article discusses the organization, failures, and successes of the Israeli intelligence. Particular attention is given to the huge mistakes and failures of the Israeli intelligence. Discussions included herein are: the evolution of the Israeli intelligence and the future challenges of the intelligence system.

R2P's Missing Link, Culture

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rama Mani ◽  
Thomas G. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Global South ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
The North ◽  
The Military ◽  
Universal Norm

AbstractCulture has been absent from analyses and debates about the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm. The use of the military to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya and to protect civilians took place with support from the local population and more widely across the Arab World even when the dominant 'culture' supposedly made outside interference unthinkable. As R2P enters its second decade, a deeper understanding of culture is desirable, as is the incorporation of cultural perspectives in framing responses to mass atrocities. UN debates and resolutions have helped dispel myths about R2P and reaffirmed its validity as a universal norm that is close to a 'tipping point'. Instead of an 'emerging' norm (the original contention in 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty), R2P has 'emerged' as consensus continues to widen and deepen across the North and the global South. This essay shares insights from research about cultural perspectives in the global South from local researchers who explore three themes (religion and spirituality, philosophy and ethics, and art and aesthetics) and three country cases (Rwanda, Kosovo, and Nepal).

scholarly journals Pakistan's Journey to Civilian Rule (1958-70): An Analysis of Ayub Era

2016 ◽  
Vol I (I) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Adil Khan ◽  
Manzoor Ahmad ◽  
Abdul Waheed
Keyword(s):  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Military Regime ◽  
Military Dictatorship ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
The Military ◽  
Crises Management ◽  
Key Questions

Pakistan, since its inception, has passed through several phases of transitions to civilian rule and authoritarian reversals. Similar to the pattern of transition between civilian rule and dictatorship, there is a pattern of change within authoritarian Regimes that could be observed in all the three experiences of transition in Pakistan. This paper identifies the pattern of change from military dictatorship to civilian rule from 1958 to 1970. The key questions addressed in this paper are: firstly, how the military regime consolidated its grip on power after the October 1958 coup? Secondly, how early cracks appeared in the military's control over power and matured with the passage of time, resulting in a national crisis? Thirdly, how failure in crises management led to the transition to civilian rule, as well as, the disintegration of the state.

Explaining Budgetary Trends in Military Regimes

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-296
Author(s):  
Gil Shidlo
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Conventional Literature ◽  
The Military ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
Western Democracies

The conventional literature on the military generally believes that military, non-competitive regimes have a tendency to spend more for national-security purposes and less on welfare provision. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate why do Argentina and Brazil, military non-competitive regimes, have tendencies similar to those of Western democracies where the state’s economic expansion extends beyond that required by strictly economic considerations? In contrast to the rational-comprehensive or ‘technocratic’ model which is often assumed to predominate in bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes an analysis of social and economic policies in Brazil and Argentina highlights the essentially political nature of the policy process in non-democratic regimes.

Military Rule in South Korea Revisited: Different Survival Strategies and Different Pathways

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-429
Author(s):  
Bon Sang Koo
Keyword(s):  
Financial Liberalization ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

This paper revisits the military rule in Korea by paying attention, like Korean specialists, to the disconnection in dictatorship but like comparativists, using the tools in comparative studies of modern authoritarian regimes. This paper argues that the differences in the military leaders’ orientations (personalist vs. party-based type) and survival strategies to deal with potential threat sources (key insiders, political opponents, and economic elites) entailed different regime pathways. Examining (a) how to form a ruling group in terms of unity (competing factions vs. a single dominant faction), (b) how to control the legislative branch (directly controlled organization vs. opposition parties indirectly supported by the government), and (c) how to manage capital owners (tight constraints vs. financial liberalization with occasional punishments), this paper provides an explanation as to why only the second military regime was able to open the door to democratization instead of giving way to authoritarian replacement in Korea.

“In the Name of the People?” Understanding the Role of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court in Times of Political Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-246
Author(s):  
Noura Hamdan Taha ◽  
Asem Khalil
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
The People ◽  
National Movements ◽  
Analytical Tools

Abstract Constitutional transformations frequently introduce and open up political spaces for new actors, as was shown during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ when national movements emerged to demand the removal of long-established authoritarian regimes and instigated a series of institutional power struggles. Subsequent analysis of these events by academics has tended to overlook struggle conducted through and by legal institutions. This article directly addresses this oversight by considering the role of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (scc) in the 2011 uprisings, with specific attention to its influence on the country’s political transformation/s. It seeks to apply new analytical tools that will assist understanding of the position of judicial institutions in the Arab world, their institutional limits and expected functions. It demonstrates how this can be achieved through a closer analysis of the scc’s structure and the factors that shape its current role.

The Emerging New Politics of Liberalizing Paraguay: Sustained Civil-Military Control without Democracy

1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Sondrol
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
New Politics ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
Military Control ◽  
The Military

The Process of the transition from authoritarianism to more representative forms of government has become a major subject of the scholarship on Latin American politics today (O'Donnell, et al, 1986; Malloy and Seligson, 1987; Stepan, 1989; Diamond et al, 1988-1990; Lowenthal, 1991). Given this interest, as expressed by the growing literature in this area, little attention has been paid to the transition process now going on in Paraguay, which is now emerging from one of Latin America's most long-standing authoritarian regimes.A number of studies testify to the authoritarian nature of Paraguay's government and society. Johnson indicates that Paraguay ranked either 18th or 19th—out of 20 Latin American nations ... in 9 successive surveys of democratic development, carried out at 5-year intervals from 1945 to 1985 (Jonnson> 1988). A longitudinal study of press freedom found that Paraguay was invariably placed in the category of “poor,” or even “none,” between 1945-1975 (Hill and Hurley, 1980). When Palmer applied his 5 indicators of authoritarianism (nonelective rule, coups, primacy of the military, military rule, executive predominance) to the countries of Latin America, Paraguay consistently ranked first in its degree of authoritarianism (Palmer, 1977).

Response to Howard and Walters

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Lust
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
State Relations

This response points to three critical problems in Explaining the Unexpected. First, the authors' contention that scholars ignored “everyday contestation,” including changing citizen-state relations, emerging venues of political participation, and the potential for mobilization, is based on a selective reading of the literature on politics in the Arab world before 2011. Second, their assertion that existing paradigms hindered scholars' ability to understand change mischaracterizes the literature on enduring authoritarianism. Scholars did not argue that regime breakdown was impossible before 2011 but rather sought to understand why authoritarian regimes were sustained. Long before the uprisings, they recognized the factors that could make breakdown possible. Third, Howard and Walters' conclusion that Middle East scholars' fundamental paradigms and their focus on regime type will lead them to treat “utterly remarkable waves of mass mobilization as politically inconsequential” is misplaced. The literature has and continues to explore a wide range of issues that extend far beyond democratization, and recent scholarship has examined varied aspects of the diverse political processes and outcomes witnessed since 2011. Explaining the Unexpected misses the mark on many points, but it does provide a useful platform for scholars to reflect on problems facing comparative politics. These include the blinders resulting from the normative biases underpinning the discipline and the need for a nuanced discussion about how, and to what extent, scholars facing rapid, regional transformations can learn from the study of similar experiences in other regions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document