Lisa Anderson writes the piece about the study of democracy in the Middle East knowing that she is not observing something new in this region, but only adding on to the already explored subject. Instead of attempting to just rewrite what has already been said on the topic, she attempts to talk about colleagues of hers who have spoken on this topic and discuss their findings and what she thinks of them.
The first piece of work she truly discusses is Halpern’s The Politics of Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa. She mentions how he correctly realizes that democracy in MENA is not something that he is entirely confident about which is supported by Kramer who states that democratic political participation did not really occur within the region.
She also talks about the empirical and analytical problems within the studies of the region. Bringing up the fact that in the 90s there were the “high water mark of liberalizing initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa.” (Anderson, 196). The initial idea that democratization could be something that was in the MENA’s near future was quickly starting to fade among scholars which was due to multiple states not being able to take advantage of the limited opportunities in the region.
However Anderson mentions the issues with how studying the idea of democracy in MENA is causing the limits of normal science and policy to be found inadvertently of course. In addition the fact that Heydemann also reveals the “depths of the dilemma” (Anderson, 210). The study of democracy in the region and the continuous authoritarian leadership in the region has made it so that political scholars are putting money into a question that many still remain puzzled about.
In our own course I feel that it is important to account for getting stuck on a topic which may not have a true answer too. While our course most likely will stay focused on topics which have been dissected and will most likely not have the discussions on the same levels as scholars, we will have the chance to move on from subjects and not get stuck. However, I feel in our class we still have the ability to be focused on ideas within the class itself where it may not add what is needed to the class discussion or topic.
The Arab Uprisings in 2011 I would not say changed it much because Authoritarianism still prevailed in most states and with most being very bloody put downs by the regimes in power. So while there was a very big opportunity for democracy in the states which had uprisings where part of the goals of most was to create states where they had democracy as the way their leaders are elected.
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