Islam and Democracy in the Middle East

Department of Political Science

Center for Middle Eastern Studies

Fall 2015

790:367-02

685:357-02

Instructor: Hamid Abdeljaber

Thurs: 3:55-6:55

Room: HCK B 214

Office hours for Abdeljaber: Thurs: 3:00-4:00 p.m. or by appointment

Heckman Hall 404

Office Telephone: (848)445-8445

E-mail: and

Class attendance is required and only one unexcused absence per semester is permitted. More than one unexcused absence will result in grade reduction in your final evaluation. You are responsible for reporting and documenting an absence due to health or other emergencies. Please go to: https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra

Cell phone usage is absolutely not allowed in class.

Course Outline

Islam has all too often been associated in the West with violence, irrationality and authoritarianism. This stereotype is being challenged by recent developments in what is called the Arab Spring, and by the emergence of a number of political parties that advocate democracy, pluralism and freedom of expression. Examples include, but are not limited to, AKP in Turkey, the Nahda Party in Tunisia, The Freedom and Development Party in Egypt, the Islamist Constitutional Movement in Kuwait, the Justice and Development Party in Morocco, the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, the Da’wa Islamiya in Iraq and others.

This course will examine the ongoing debate over the reasons behind the reluctance of the Muslim majority nations of the Middle East to embrace democracy following the third wave of democratization that engulfed Latin America, the former Soviet Union and East Europe and many parts of Africa during the 1990s and after It will analyze why most authoritarian regimes collapsed, except in the Middle East. It will primarily focus on the role Islam has been playing in the modern political, cultural and economic discourse. It will explore if this predicament related to the culture, the economy, the absence of civil society, the marginalization of women, the nature of the regimes in power, the oil or a combination of these variables. The course will also analyze the correlation between Islam and democracy and the different discourses of Islamic movements in the Arab world. The course will cover a number of case studies of serious attempts to embrace democracy in some parts of the Arab and Muslim World. It will conclude by shedding some light on the Arab Revolt that started in Tunisia and the regression it has seen in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

We will examine a number of questions. What are the social and political origins of reformist and democratically inclined Islamist parties and movements? How do they envision the relationship between Islam and democracy? How do these parties and movements understand the concept of democracy and what is their level of commitment to democratic practices? Why some Islamic parties could not hold to power after being elected such as the cases in Egypt and Tunisia while others still in power like Turkey, Iraq and Morocco? Are there any prospects that democratic Islamist parties may reach power as well? What are the root-causes behind the demonization of Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other places?

In studying the questions raised in this course, we will rely primarily on political science texts. However, we will also study blogs, YouTube videos and show a number of relevant films and documentaries. The course will end with a simulated conference on Islam and Democracy that will be organized at the end of course in which students will be divided in groups to represent an Islamic party or movement.

Course Requirements

1. Class attendance, reading assignments, participation and presentations 10%

This course requires the full commitment of all enrollees. Attendance is mandatory and only one unexcused absence per semester is allowed. More than one unexcused absence per semester will result in the loss of grade point, (e.g., an A maybe reduced to B+). Excessive unexcused absence may result in failing the course. Students are expected to arrive in class on time and to have completed weekly readings (and occasional writing assignments). Weekly reading assignments are mandatory and selected readers would be required to submit a full page summary and critical analysis of the article the night before the class. All Students may be requested to give a brief presentation on the reading. All students should be prepared to fully engage in the discussion.

2. Mid-term Examination 30 %

Mid-term examination will include all materials covered, so far, prior to the date of the exam.

Make-up examinations are only given under extraordinary circumstances. All seminar members should schedule at least one office meeting with the instructor prior to the Mid-term Examination (October 22).

3. Classroom simulation: conference of Islamist parties 20%

The goal of the exercise is to simulate a conference in which Islamist parties that adhere to democratic practices meet to discuss how they can win electoral power. Students will work in groups. Each group will select a political party in the Middle East to represent during the simulation conference. A paper of at least 4 pages plus bibliography and notes must be prepared prior to the simulation that details the point of view of the party regarding the transformation of the country in question towards democracy or how to strengthen an existing democratic system if that is the case. During the conference the group will deliver the position paper and debate other parties regarding their positions. The written format of the presentation will be delivered to the instructors same day of the conference after a shorter oral presentation is completed by one or two students on behalf of the group.

4. Final Take-home Examination 40%

The final exam will cover all topics taught in the course. Students will be asked to submit prior to the exam, 2 essay questions with accompanying rationales, which will be used as the basis of the examination.

Books for purchase

These books are available at Barnes and Noble, Rutgers and /or at New Jersey Books, 39 Easton Ave., New Brunswick, NJ (732)253-7666

Brynen, Rex, Bahgat Korany, and Paul Noble, Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World: Volume 1and II, Theoretical Perspectives, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995, 1998

Diamond, Larry, Islam and Democracy in the Middle East, Baltimore: John Hopkins University, 2003

Armajani, Jon, Modern Islamist Movement, 2012, Wiley-Blackwell, UK.

Abou El Fadl, Khaled - Islam and the Challenge of Democracy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004

Esposito, John and Voll, John, Islam and Democracy, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996

Brooking Institution: The Arab Awakening - America and the Transformation of the Middle East- Brooking Institution Press- 2011

Strongly Recommended Books

Khatab, Sayed, and Gary Bouma, Democracy in Islam, Routledge, London and NY, 2011

Mernissi, Fatima, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1992)

Salame, Ghassan, Democracy Without Democrats? The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World, London: I.B Tauris, 1994

Council on Foreign Relations: The New Arab Revolt (2011) an excellent collection of Articles dealing with the Arab Spring.

Further Suggested Readings

The following Books are recommended for expanding knowledge and Mastery of the issues:

Ahmed, Leila, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate, New Haven, CH: Yale University Press 1993

Ajami, Fuad, The Arab Predicament, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992

Aslan, Reza, No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. New York: Random House, 2005

Barakat, Halim, The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State, Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1993

Charrad, Mounira, States and Women=s Rights: Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001

Davis, Eric, Bank Misr and Egyptian Industrialization, 1920-1941, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983, esp. Chap. 4, “Muhammad Tal ' at Harb and the Nationalist Movement,”

, Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq, Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 2005.

Esposito, John, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality, Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1999

, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, Oxford University Press,

2002

George, Alan, Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom, London: Zed Books, 2003

Hafez, Mohammed, Why Muslims Rebel: Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World, Lynne Rienner Publishers; 2003

Hefner, Robert, ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization , Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005

Hourani, Albert, Philip Khoury and Mary Wilson, The Modern Middle East, London: I.B. Tauris, 2004

Hitti, Philip, History of the Arabs, (Palgrave Macmillan-London, 10th edition-2002)

Khalidi, Rashid, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America=s Perilous Path in the Middle East, Boston: Beacon Press, 2004

Kramer, Martin, Ivory Tower on Castle Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2002

Lapidus, Ira, A History of Islamic Societies, Cambridge University Press, second edition, 2002

Lewis, Bernard, What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, Oxford University Press-NY-2003)

Lijphart, Arend, Patterns of Democracy, Government Forms and the Performance of Thirty-Six Democracies, New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1999

Mansour, Fawzi, The Arab World: Nation State and Democracy, United Nations University Press-Tokyo, 1992

Peretz, Don, The Middle East Today, Westport, CN: Prager, 6th ed., 1994)

Pratt, Nicola, Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007

Posusney, Marsha Pripstein and Michele Penner Angrist, Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regime and Resistance, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2005

Sabbagh, Suha, Arab Women Between Defiance and Restraint, (NY-2003)

Said, Edward, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, New York: Vintage Press, 1997

Sisk, Timothy, Islam and Democracy, Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace, 1992.

Course Schedule

Week 1 (Sept. 3) - Introduction: course overview

Definitions of concepts and terms: Arab World, Middle East, Muslim World, Islam, and differing definitions of the concept of democracy/authoritarianism; discussion of the classroom simulation

Power point presentation (PPT): Islam and Democracy? Concepts, Questions and Stereotypes@

Required readings:

Diamond, Introduction, IX-XXVI

Week 2 - What is democracy? (Sept. 10)

Required readings:

Robert Dahl, What is Democracy? 1-25

Charles Tilly, Democracy, 1-24

Seymour Martin Lipset, Some Social Prerequisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy,@ American Political Science Review, 53 (Mar. 1959): 69-105

Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Twentieth Century, 3-30

Week 3 - Understanding Authoritarianism (Sept. 17)

Required readings:

Brumberg, Daniel, Authoritarian Legacies and Reform Strategies in the Arab World, in Brynen et al, Political Liberalization, 229-260

Bellin, Eva, The Reins of Power - Coercive Institutions and Coercive Leaders,@ in Marsha Pripstein Posusney and Michael Penner Angrist, Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regime and Resistance, 21- 41 (Sakai)

Linz, Juan, Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism Regimes, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 259-262 (Sakai)

Fish, M. Steven, “Íslam and Authoritarianism,” World Politics, 55/1 (Oct. 2002): 4-37 (Sakai)

Week 4 - Understanding Islam, Shari’a and the Islamic System of Government (Sept. 24)

Required readings:

Cleveland, William, A History of the Modern Middle East, 3rd. ed., 1-35 (Sakai)

Aslan, No God but God, Chronology of key events, xxxi-xxxii, 3-106

Sisk, Islam and Democracy, xv-32

Davis, Eric, The Concept of Revival and the Study of Islam and Politics, in Barbara Stowasser, The Islamic Impulse, London: Croom Helm, 1987: 37-58 http://faspolisci.rutgers.edu/davis/research.html

, AReflections on Religion and Politics in Post-Bacthist Iraq, Newsletter of the American Academic Research Institute in Iraq, 3/1 (Spring 2008): 13-15

http://fas-polisci.rutgers.edu/davis/research.html

Lapidus, A History of Islamic Society- Chapter: The Preaching of Islam- 18-30