GOVT-040 Lecture Notes - Authoritarianism, Modernization Theory, Civil Society
Document Summary
It is not a question of failed democracy, it"s a question of resistance to the pressures of the democratization, robustness and durability of authoritarianism. The robustness of authoritarianism in the middle east is surprising because they are wealthy and were supposed to democratize but they did not. Religion and state should be separate but islamic states reject that idea. Elected politicians ultimately have to refer to unelected religious authorities. Sometimes power lies within people who are not elected. There are some cultures that are not conducive with democracy. There are some features of islam that are conducive with democracy: egalitarian, Limitations to these arguments: individualism, etc. than the features that are not located in arab world. Cultural theorists focus on the features that are not compatible with democracy. Metholodicagical critique - ignore that they are other muslim countries that are. Domestic balance of power - between the state and the society.
