False Democracies in the Middle East

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– October 14, 2008Posted in: Colloquia

“The true victory is the victory for democracy and pluralism.”

Hosni Mubarak,
Egyptian President

Middle Eastern states claim to be “liberal” democracies; that is, that they are democracies based in Enlightenment ideals and have a separation of Church and state. However, a handful of nations (notably Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt) stand out as questionable liberal democracies.

Come participate in our discussion about this topic this Wednesday, October 15! At 7PM in CAS 326, we will simulate SPECPOL (a General Assembly committee) as we address the problem of false democracies in the Middle East.

“Western Liberal Democracies” and the Middle East

In 1992, Francis Fukuyama proposed that the Western liberal democracy was the final stage of socio-political teleological progression. This theory, published in his work The End of History, clearly opposes Marx’ idea that government communism would represent the last phase.

The Bush Doctrine and the neo-conservative perspective as a whole have adopted Fukuyama’s hypothesis; they now view democracy as a universal, natural desire. It was thus strongly believed that democracy could spread across the “undemocratic” world.

While the problem of perpetually expanding democracy is interesting in and of itself, of particular interest are “democracies” possessing clearly undemocratic qualities and practices, especially those supported by Western powers. In our discussion, we will focus on Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt.

Country Focuses

Practices of Turkey:

  • Turkey has had three military coups d’état since becoming a democratic nation: in 1950, 1971, and 1980. These coups shut down the democratic process, disbanded the “illegal” parties, and eventually returned power to a moderate political party.
  • Turkey follows a specific type of liberalism – Laicism – which roughly translates to a separation between religion and state. However, the state strictly manages the power of religion.
  • Since 1971, the Turkish government has banned a series of religiously oriented parties possessing the same leadership: the National Order Party, the Welfare Party, and the Virtue Party. Currently, the AK Party is under investigation for being too religious.
  • Turkey does not recognize non-religious minorities. In other words, Muslims cannot be demoted as a minority, only Jews and Christians can.

Practices of Israel

          • As of 2005, over 1.5 million Palestinian refugees lived within Israel’s occupation boundaries. These lack citizenship to Israel, but the Israeli government is allowed to confiscate their land.
          • Israel lacks a constitution.
          • Israeli law includes Jewish religious law; marriages and divorces are controlled by religious courts.

Practices of Lebanon

  • Lebanon employs confessionalism, a specific form of democracy, to keep sectarian violence at bay. The practice requires that the largest sect be represented by the President, the second largest by the Prime Minister, and the third largest by the Speaker of the House.
  • The last official census of Lebanon occurred in 1932 – the top three sects were Maronites, Sunnis, and Shi’a Muslims.
  • The estimated demographics within Lebanon today are 30% Shi’a, 25% Maronite Christian, and 21% Sunni.

Practices of Egypt

          • Egypt became a republic in 1953; it held its first presidential election more than 50 years later in 2005.
          • Egypt has been in permanent emergency law since 1967. This bans street demonstrations, non-approved political parties, and unregistered political donations for all parties not currently holding the presidency.
          • Egypt legally restricts the press.