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In early 2011, widespread protests ousted dictatorial regimes in both Tunisia and Egypt. Within a few years, Tunisia successfully held parliamentary and presidential elections and witnessed a peaceful transition of power, while the Egyptian military went on to seize power and institute authoritarian control. What explains the success and failure of transitions to democracy in these two countries, and how might they speak to democratic transition attempts in other Muslim-majority countries?
List of contents
Foreword by Monica Marks
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Alfred Stepan
Part I. Why Different Democratization Outcomes in Tunisia and Egypt? Cross-Ideological Accommodations, Constitutions, Militaries, and the Content of International Assistance
1. Ennahda’s Democratic Commitments and Capabilities: Major Evolutionary Moments and Choices, by Rached Ghannouchi
2. The Challenges of Democratization in the Arab World: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Case, by Carrie Rosefsky Wickham
3. Mutual Accommodation: Islamic and Secular Parties and Tunisia’s Democratic Transition, by Alfred Stepan
4. The Roots of Egypt’s Constitutional Catastrophe: The Necessity of Marrying an Analysis of Context, Process, and Text, by Nathan J. Brown
5. Purists and Pluralists: Cross-Ideological Coalition Building in Tunisia’s Democratic Transition, by Monica Marks
6. Patterns of Civil-Military Relations and Their Legacies for Democratization: Egypt Versus Tunisia, by Hicham Bou Nassif
7. The Failure of the International Community to Support Tunisia, by Radwan Masmoudi
Part II. Rethinking Other Democracies with Large Muslim Populations: What Policies Helped in Indonesia and India?
8. Crafting Indonesian Democracy: Inclusion-Moderation and the Sacralizing of the Postcolonial State, by Jeremy Menchik
9. Indian Democracy and the World’s Largest Muslim Minority, by Hilal Ahmed and Sudipta Kaviraj
Selected Bibliography
Contributors
Index
About the author
Alfred Stepan (1936–2017) was the Wallace S. Sayre Professor Emeritus of Government and founding director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion at Columbia University. His many books include Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (with Juan J. Linz, 1996); Arguing Comparative Politics (2001); and Boundaries of Toleration (Columbia, 2014, with Charles Taylor).
Summary
This book convenes leading scholars to consider the implications of democratic success in Tunisia and failure in Egypt in comparative perspective. Contributors analyze similarities and differences among democratizing countries with large Muslim populations, considering universal challenges as well as each nation’s particular obstacles.
Additional text
An important and often original work.
Report
In the age of ISIS and rising anti-Muslim bigotry (embodied in the rise of Donald Trump), the claim that the Islam and Muslim societies are essentially and enduringly anti-democratic has again become mainstream. This book forcefully and convincingly repudiates this proposition. Focusing on the fascinating case of Tunisia and drawing up his vast erudition on the study of democracy, Alfred Stepan makes an important and unique contribution in understanding the relationship between religion and democracy in Muslim societies. Nader Hashemi, the University of Denver
