Globalization, democratization, and the Arab uprising

The international factor in Mena's failed democratization

Bibliographic Data

ID6254518
AuthorsRaymond Hinnebusch (0000-0001-5800-6606, University of St Andrews, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume22
Issue2
Pages335-357
Publication date2015-02-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510347.2015.1010814
OpenAlexW1966388803
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited46

What explains the almost negative impact of international factors on post-Uprising democratization prospects? This article compares the utility of rival “diffusionist” and neo-Gramscian political economy frames to explain this. Three international factors deter democratization. The failure of Western democracy promotion is rooted in the contradiction between the dominance of global finance capital and the norm of democratic equality; in the periphery, neo-liberalism is most compatible with hybrid regimes and, at best, “low intensity democracy.” In MENA, neo-liberalism generated a crony capitalism incompatible with democratization; while this also sparked the uprisings, these have failed to address class inequalities. Moreover at the normative level, MENA hosts the most credible counter-hegemonic ideologies; the brief peaking of democratic ideology in the region during the early uprisings soon declined amidst regional discourse wars. Non-democrats—coercive regime remnants and radical charismatic movements--were empowered by the competitive interference of rival powers in Uprising states. The collapse of many Uprising states amidst a struggle for power over the region left an environment uncongenial to democratization

Democracy · Democracy promotion · Democratization · Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Hegemony · Ideology · Liberalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political theory and Gramsci

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