Beyond Lies the Wub: The Challenges of (Post)Democratization

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Notes

¹ In one of Philip K. Dick's best-known short stories, Crewman Peterson purchases a pig-like creature called a wub from a Martian ‘native’ and brings it onto a ship bound for Earth. Bulging and apparently innocuous, the crew find the wub amusing. Despite it being intelligent—indeed, telepathic—the Captain mainly is interested in its food value. They debate whether to kill and eat the wub, and Captain Franco eventually imposes his will, only to find that through being eaten, it has taken over his body: the very ‘enemy’ Captain Franco sought to defeat overcame him by surreptitiously becoming him. See Philip K. Dick, ‘Beyond Lies the Wub,’ in Beyond Lies The Wub, vol. 1, London: Gollancz, 1987, pp. 27–33.

² M. Valbjørn & A. Bank (2010) Examining the ‘Post’ in Post-Democratization: The Future of Middle Eastern Political Rule through Lenses of the Past, Middle East Critique, 19(3), pp. 183–200. The call to move beyond the current state of democratization studies should not be dismissed out of hand in light of the uprisings which have swept through the Middle East since late 2010. For an analysis of the uprisings, see A. Teti & G. Gervasio (2011), Lessons from The Arab Uprisings, Mediterranean Politics, 16(2), pp. 321–327.

³ For general treatments of liberalism and science beyond democratization debates, see A. Teti (2007) Bridging the Gap: The Disciplinary Politics of the Area Studies Controversy, European Journal of International Relations, 13(1), pp. 117–146; T. Mitchell (2003) The Middle East in the Past and Future Social Science, in: D. L. Szanton (ed.) The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines (Berkeley: University of California Press); Lisa Wedeen (2007) Scientific Knowledge, Liberalism and Empire: American Political Science in the Modern Middle East (New York: Social Science Research Council, June 14–15).

⁴ See, e.g., Francesco Cavatorta (2010) The Convergence of Governance: Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab World and Downgrading Democracy Elsewhere? Middle East Critique, 19(3), pp. 217–232.

⁵ For a critical overview, see A. Teti (2009) Colonizing Knowledge: Social Science and the Disciplinary (Re)Production of Knowledge, in: B. Firat, S. de Mul & S. van Wichelen (eds) Commitment and Complicity in Cultural Theory and Practice (London: Palgrave Macmillan).

⁶ Mitchell, Middle East in the Past'; and Teti, Bridging the Gap.

⁷ M. Camau (2002), Sociétés civiles ‘réelles’ et téléologie de la democratisation, Revue Internationale d'Economie Politique, 9(2) pp. 213–232.

⁸ Michel Foucault (1980), Truth and Power, in: Colin Gordon (ed.) Power/Knowledge (New York: Pantheon Books), pp. 109–133; and Edward Said (1995) Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient, rev. edn (London: Penguin).

⁹ Valbjørn & Bank, Examining the ‘Post’, p. 188.

¹⁰ Nazih Ayubi (1994), Over-stating the Arab State (London: I. B. Tauris); Lisa Anderson (1991) Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East, Political Science Quarterly, 106(1), pp. 1–15. Hazem Beblawi & Giacomo Luciani (eds) (1987) The Rentier State (London: Croom Helm and Istituto Affari Internazionali).

¹¹ Jill Crystal (1994) Authoritarianism and Its Adversaries in the Arab World, World Politics, 46(2), p. 263.

¹² Bhagat Korany (1994) Arab Democratization: A Poor Cousin? PS, 27, p. 511.

¹³ Raymond Hinnebusch (1998) Calculated decompression as a substitute for democratization, in: Bhagat Korany, Rex Brynen, & Paul Noble (eds) Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World: Comparative Experiences, vol. 2. (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner), pp. 223–240; Eva Bellin (2004) The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East, Comparative Politics, 36(2), pp. 139–157; M. Pripstein Posusney & M. P. Angrist (2005) Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers); E. Lust-Okar (2005) Structuring Conflict in the Arab World: Incumbents, Opponents and Institutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); H. Albrecht & O. Schlumberger (2004), ‘Waiting for Godot’: Regime Change without Democratization in the Middle East, International Political Science Review, 25(4), pp. 371–392; N. Pratt (2007) Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Arab World, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).

¹⁴ Polity IV. Available at: http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm, accessed November 5, 2010.

¹⁵ Samuel P. Huntington (1968) Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press).

¹⁶ Samuel P. Huntington (1993) The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs, 71, pp. 222–249; and (1991), The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press).

¹⁷ E. Kedourie (1992) Politics in the Middle East (Oxford: Oxford University Press); and (1994) Democracy and Arab Political Culture (London: Frank Cass); Bernard Lewis (1988) The Political Language of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press); and (1990) The Roots of Muslim Rage, The Atlantic Online, September 1990; and (2002) What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response (New York: Oxford University Press).

¹⁸ Sanford Lakoff (2004) The Reality of Muslim Exceptionalism, Journal of Democracy, 15, pp. 133–139.

¹⁹ A. Stepan & G. B. Robertson (2003) An ‘Arab’ More Than a ‘Muslim’ Democracy Gap, Journal of Democracy, 14, pp. 30–44.

²⁰ Larry Diamond (2010) Why Are there no Arab Democracies? Journal of Democracy, 21(1), pp. 93–104; O. Halaki (2009) Authoritarianism and Islamic Movements in the Middle East: Research and Theory-building in the Twenty-First Century, International Studies Review, 11, pp. 27–45; A. Karatnycky (2002) Muslim Countries and the Democracy Gap, Journal of Democracy, 13(1), pp. 99–112; Vali Nasr (2005) The Rise of Muslim Democracy, Journal of Democracy, 16(2), pp. 13–27.

²¹ Y. Sadowski (1993) The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate, Middle East Report, 183, pp. 14–21; A. Teti (2011a) Beyond the Ameliorative Impasse: Some Implications of Anaylsing the Democratization Debate, unpublished paper; D. Chakrabarty (2010) Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton University Press).

²² See e.g., T. Mitchell (2003) The Middle East in the Past and Future Social Science, in D. L. Szanton (ed.) The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines (Berkeley: University of California Press).

²³ See e.g., T. Mitchell (2003) The Middle East in the Past and Future Social Science, in D. L. Szanton (ed.) The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines (Berkeley: University of California Press), p. 3.

²⁴ Andrea Teti. (2009) Colonizing Knowledge, pp. 81–101.

²⁵ Teti, Bridging the Gap. For examples of such attempts, see Chakrabarty Provincializing Europe; and Halaki, Authoritarianism and Islamic Movements.

²⁶ Sadowski, The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate.

²⁷ Valbjørn & Bank, Examining the ‘Post,’ p. 191.

²⁸ Teti, Beyond the Ameliorative Impasse.

²⁹ Teti, Beyond the Ameliorative Impasse

³⁰ See e.g., Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies; and Juan J. Linz & Alfred Stepan (1996) Towards Consolidated Democracies, Journal of Democracy, 7(2), pp. 14–33.

³¹ See e.g., D. Collier & S. Levitsky (1996) Democracy ‘With Adjectives’: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research, Kellogg Institute Working Paper n. 230 (Notre Dame, IN: Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame) p. 1; L. Diamond (2003) Universal Democracy? Policy Review. Available at: http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3448571.html, accessed November 5, 2010.

³² See e.g., G. O'Donnell (1996) Illusions about Consolidation, Journal of Democracy, 7(2), pp. 34–51; and T. Carothers (2002) The End of the Transition Paradigm, Journal of Democracy, 13(1), pp. 5–21.

³³ Korany, Arab Democratization; and Hinnebusch, Calculated Decompression.

³⁴ Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations?; and F. Fukuyama (1989) The End of History? The National Interest, Summer 1989.

³⁵ Teti, Beyond the Ameliorative Impasse.

³⁶ See, e.g., Talal Asad (2003) Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity (Stanford CA: Stanford University Press); and J. Casanova (2006) Rethinking Secularization: A Global Comparative Perspective, Hedgehog Review, 8(1–2), pp. 7–22.

³⁷ For a critical assessment, see D. Jung (2004) Globalization, State Formation, and Religion in the Middle East: ‘Is Islam incompatible with democracy?’ Distinktion, 8, pp. 61–78.

³⁸ See, e.g., Lakoff, The Reality of Muslim Exceptionalism.

³⁹ Jung, Globalization, State Formation, and Religion, p. 64

⁴⁰ L. Guazzone (ed) (1995) The Islamist Dilemma: The Political Role of Islamist Movements in the Contemporary Arab World (Reading MA: Ithaca Press).

⁴¹ See Sadowski, The New Orientalism; S. Žižek (2008) Tolerance as an Ideological Category, Critical Inquiry, 34(4), pp. 660–682.

⁴² This is equally true of the EU response to the Arab Spring: See, for example, strategy papers COM(2011), 200 and 303 (European Commission, Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity; New Response to a Changing Neighbourhood), which in practice leave models of democracy and of transitions toward them unchanged.

⁴³ See, e.g., L. Diamond, Universal Democracy?; cf. R. A. Dahl (1992) ‘Why Free Markets Are Not Enough,’ Journal of Democracy, 3, pp. 82–89; and A. Przeworski, Michael E. Alvarez, Juan-Antonio Cheibub & Fernando Limongi (2000) Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-being in the World, 1950–1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

⁴⁴ See, e.g., Stephan Haggard & Steven B. Webb (eds) (1994) Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization, and Economic Adjustment (Oxford: World Bank and Oxford University Press); and Michel Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington & Joji Watanuki (1975) The Crisis of Democracy (New York: Trilateral Commission and New York University Press). Cf. Dahl, Why Free Markets are not Enough; Diamond, Universal Democracy?; and Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies, who makes the cognate argument that the political irrationality which comes with early political transitions should be kept in check by an authoritarian leadership.

⁴⁵ T. Carothers (2003) Promoting Democracy and Fighting Terror, Foreign Affairs. Available at: http://www.mafhoum.com/press4/carot1.htm, accessed November 5, 2010.

⁴⁶ N. Ayubi (1994) Over-stating the Arab State.

⁴⁷ D. Giannone (2010a) Political and Ideological Aspects in the Measurement of Democracy: The Freedom House Case, Democratization, 17, pp. 71–72.

⁴⁸ Based on interviews with European donors conducted in Brussels, The Hague and London between March 2009 and April 2010; and on interviews with Egyptian recipients conducted by Gennaro Gervasio in Egypt during 2008 to 2010.

⁴⁹ See, e.,g., J. Gani, M. Iniguez de Heredia & P. Kirby (eds) (2009) Interrogating Democracy in International Relations, Millennium, 37(3) special issue, pp. 531–790.

⁵⁰ Valbjørn &Bank, Examining the ‘Post.’

⁵¹ Teti, Beyond the Ameliorative Impasse; and A. Teti (2011b) Société civile, démocratie libérale, et la démarche du paradigme de la ‘démocratisation’, in: Pierre-Jean Luizard and Anna Bozzo (eds) L'essor de la de la Société Civile dans le Monde Musulman (Paris: La Découverte).

⁵² Camau, Téléologie de la democratisation.

⁵³ Said, Orientalism, p. 1.

⁵⁴ Said, Orientalism, p. 2.

⁵⁵ Said, Orientalism

⁵⁶ Foucault, Truth and Power, p. 132.

⁵⁷ Foucault, Truth and Power, p. 133.

⁵⁸ Jürgen Habermas (2008) Notes on a Post-Secular Society, New Perspectives Quarterly, 25(4), pp. 17–29.

⁵⁹ See, e.g., A. Mastropaolo (2001) Democrazia, neodemocrazia, postdemocrazia: tre paradigmi a confront, Diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo, 4, pp. 1612–1635; G. Sartori (2009) Il Sultanato (Rome: Laterza); L. Morlino (2004) What is a ‘good’ democracy? Democratization, 11(5), pp. 10–32; D. Crouch (2004) Post-democracy (Cambridge: Polity); and D. Giannone, Political and Ideological Aspects in the Measurement of Democracy.

⁶⁰ Nikolas Rose (1999) Powers of Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); and Žižek, Tolerance.

⁶¹ R. H. Hinnebusch (2010) Toward a Historical Sociology of State Formation in the Middle East, Middle East Critique, 19(3), p. 202.

⁶² Cavatorta, The Convergence of Governance.

⁶³ U. Eco (2010) Desgraciadamente, el futuro de Europa será Italia, El País, April 25,2010. Available at: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Umberto/Eco/Desgraciadamente/futuro/Europa/sera/Italia/elpepusoceps/20100425elpepspor_8/Tes, accessed November 5, 2010.

⁶⁴ Reporters Without Borders (2010) Italy. Available at: http://en.rsf.org/report-italy,111.html, accessed November 5, 2010; and Freedom House (2010) Freedom of the Press – Italy 2010. Available at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page = 251&year = 2010, accessed October 24, 2010.

⁶⁵ See, e.g., P. Ginsborg (2003) Italy and Its Discontents (London: Palgrave Macmillan); cf. L. Paoli (2008) The Decline of the Italian Mafia, Studies Of Organized Crime, 7(1), pp. 15–28.

⁶⁶ See, e.g., Rose, Powers of Freedom.

⁶⁷ D. Giannone, Political and Ideological Aspects in the Measurement of Democracy cf. D. Collier & S. Levitsky (1996) Democracy ‘With Adjectives’; Larry Diamond (2002) Thinking about Hybrid Regimes, Journal of Democracy, 13, pp. 21–35.

⁶⁸ For an overview, see Teti, Bridging the Gap.