Islam i politika: prilog raspravi o uzrocima demokratskog deficita na Bliskom Istoku
Islam and Politics: Debating the Causes of the Democratic Deficit in the Middle East

Summary/Abstract: The Middle East suffers from the chronic lack of political freedoms and liberties and its “exceptional” character is marked by the deep-seated authoritarianism of Arab politics. The capacity of regional autocracies to block democratic reforms is often explained as a consequence of Arab culture, of its distinctive values, ethical norm and habits. The cultural essentialism that suffuses many studies on the Middle East attributes this lack of democracy in the Arab World on the role of Islam’s socio-cultural formation. It is often said that Islam privileges authoritarian political solutions and is therefore incompatible with the values and practices of democracy. This article argues against this kind of explanation and sets forth the thesis that Arab authoritarian rule should be understood as a product of the complex interplay of historical, ideological, economic and political forces which jointly produced an environment exceptionally resistant, even hostile, to political pluralism and democracy. The specificities of Middle Eastern economy, legacies of colonialism, the nature of the state and an unfavorable geopolitical situation shaped the Middle East as a distinctive political space in which ruling elites, through the mechanisms of brutal repressions, ideological manipulation and the distribution of social benefits, more or less successfully suppressed demands for wider political participation and democratization. For these reasons, the democratic deficit in the Arab World should be explained not through the specific characteristics of its culture but rather within the framework of historical and political sociology.

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