Arab Democratic Transitions? Rethinking Arab Democratic Transitions Democratic Gains Challenges: 1- Political Islam 2- Gender 3- Alternation of Power 4- Human rights

Rethinking Arab Transitions Limitations of Theory Peculiarities Exceptionalism

Democratic Gains Frequency close to 50 elections b/w 1989-1999  5 per year Participation voter turnout = 80%+ voting age lowered to 18 in many Arab states Contestation multiparty elections opposition field candidates Habituation voting rights exercised voter rolls regularity of voting

Challenges 1- Political Islam Caveats Explaining the “impasse” Islamizing democracy? Democratizing Islam? PI in the Democratic Process

Islamic Action Front IAF (Jordan)  approximates a political party Cadres  mostly civil not religious or both Democratic procedures inside front Alternation of leadership Broad consultation, deliberation & aggregation of political preferences

Challenges 2- Gender Inclusive Politics Away from “state feminism” Women and the electoral process

Jordanian National Forum for Women -- JNFW Objectives: “spreading awareness among Jordanian women of the content of the national strategy which was ratified in 1993 and which aims to improve women’s status, involve them in the national development ..., and promote their legal status and increase their participation in decision-making…”

The Jordanian National Committee for Women “To amend legislation obstructing women’s participation in development and enacting new legislations and policies…emphasizing…their full participation.” “To create public awareness regarding the importance of women’s roles and their status in the progress the Jordanian society.” “To increase women’s participation in development and to create job opportunities for them ...”

Jordanian Constitution Chapter Two Rights and duties of Jordanians I. Jordanians shall be equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them as regards their rights and duties on grounds of race, language or religion.

Since elections of 1997, more women are lobbying for a quota system  reach parliament in 2001 20% quota in the LHP (16 seats of the 80-seat parliament) Queen Noor: “I would prefer to have the various political parties elect women to their high cadres and this may have women represent their parties in parliament.”

Women in Egypt's Parliament Under-represented Women activists reconsidering quota system Tokenism within government/opposition Females = less than 3% of candidates in elections