A Contribution to the Understanding of Middle Eastern and Muslim Exceptionalism

Hariri, Jacob Gerner

doi:10.1086/680727

Cited by 30 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In addition to discussing the results of the sensitivity analysis as a whole, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by focusing on two high-profile debates, namely on (1) income and democratization/democratic survival (Przeworski et al 2000;Boix and Stokes 2003) and 2Islam and democratization (Huntington 1996;Hariri 2015). Our investigation provides important empirical insights with implications for theory development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Many Muslim countries also are oil-rich, leading scholars to suspect that resource-curse mechanisms drive the negative correlation between Islam and democratization (Ross 2001). More recently, Hariri (2015) has presented evidence that the strengths of pre-colonial Middle Eastern state institutions account for the negative association between majority-Muslim status and democratization.…”

Section: Is Democratization Less Likely In Countries That Are Predomimentioning

confidence: 99%

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The determinants of democracy: a sensitivity analysis

2019

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Numerous studies-operating with diverse model specifications, samples and empirical measures-suggest different economic, social, cultural, demographic, institutional and international determinants of democracy. We distinguish between democratization and democratic survival and test the sensitivities of 67 proposed determinants by varying the control variable set, democracy measure, and sample time period. Furthermore, we go beyond existing sensitivity analyses and unpack the aggregate results by analyzing how theoretically motivated control variables affect sensitivity for two prominent determinants in the democracy literature: income and Islam. Overall, our results reveal a far larger number of robust determinants of democratization than of democratic survival. For democratic survival, the only robust factors are income and a law-abiding bureaucracy. In addition, our results highlight uncertainty surrounding the relationship between income and democratization, but show that broader development processes enhance the chances of democratization. Moreover, chances of democratization are lower in countries with large Muslim populations, but that relationship is sensitive to controlling for natural resources, education and neighborhood characteristics. Other results of the sensitivity analysis show that political protests, a democratic neighborhood, and the global proportion of democracies positively influence democratization, while natural resources, majoritarian systems, and long-tenured leaders make countries less likely to democratize.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Is Democratization Less Likely In Countries That Are Predomimentioning

confidence: 99%

The determinants of democracy: a sensitivity analysis

2019

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“…In this setting, exposure to colonial institutions provided a key pathway by which democracy-enhancing institutions might be transmitted to a society. Extending and amplifying this argument, Hariri (2015) argues that Middle Eastern states experienced relatively little European colonialism compared to other world regions and thus were more likely to see traditional authority structures persist. One reason for this, according to Hariri (2015), is that Middle Eastern colonialism tended to entail less direct colonial settlement than other regions as well as more indirect forms of European rule.…”

Section: Political Geography and The Legacy Of Early Statehoodmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The second defining feature is the existence of vast areas of low agricultural productivity, typically deserts, alongside these regions of rich agricultural surplus. Hariri (2012Hariri ( , 2015 argues for a different causal pathway by which early agriculture impacted democracy and development. Hariri (2012) finds that old states-those that took up settled agriculture relatively early-were able to influence both whether European colonization took place and the intensity of the colonial experience if it did occur.…”

Section: Political Geography and The Legacy Of Early Statehoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

State Building in the Middle East

Blaydes

2017

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci.

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This review examines state building in the Middle East from a long-term, historical perspective. The Middle East's early transition to settled agriculture meant the region was home to many of the most sophisticated and best-developed states in the ancient world. As Middle Eastern states emerged from Late Antiquity, their fiscal and bureaucratic capacity enabled institutional forms not possible in Europe, including reliance on slave soldiers for the state military elite as well as state control of land that could be distributed to state servants in the form of temporary, revocable land grants. Because a landed gentry did not emerge as an influence-wielding social class in the Middle East until a relatively late date, religious elites-who served as important providers of public goods as a result of their control of Islamic charitable foundations-became key intermediaries between state and society. Core features of the institutions of Islam's classical period largely persisted until the decline of the Ottoman Empire with implications for the nation-state forms to follow.

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“…Some authors linked these developments to Islam itself (Huntington 1996;Lakoff 2004;Rowley and Smith 2009). Especially after the Arab Spring, but also earlier (Sørli et al 2005), this notion of Muslim exceptionalism has evoked increasing criticism by authors who have instead highlighted the importance of political and colonial history (Hariri 2015), ethnolinguistic factors (Mabry 2015), or gender (el-Husseini 2016) to understand what is often perceived as a democratic deficit in the Middle East and the Muslim World. Others have pointed out how actors in Muslim democracies in fact often use Islamic concepts to contribute to democratization (Kubicek 2015).…”

Section: Avenues For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Is There So Little Shia–Sunni Dialogue? Understanding the Deficit of Intra-Muslim Dialogue and Interreligious Peacemaking

2019

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Despite a growth in fatalities resulting from organized violence with Shia–Sunni dimensions over the last two decades, in this study, we show, using existing data-bases on interreligious dialogue and peacemaking, that only less than two percent of the interreligious peacemaking organizations in the world are specialized in dialogue between Shias and Sunnis. Why is there so little institutionalized Shia–Sunni dialogue occurring when the need for such dialogue is evident? This study identifies and discusses this lack of institutional initiatives designed to prevent violence, manage conflicts and facilitate processes of intra-Muslim de-sectarianization. We discuss what we see as the three seemingly most obvious explanations—(1) the dismissal of the relevance of a Shia–Sunni cleavage, (2) the inappropriateness of the interreligious dialogue concept in the Muslim context, and (3) the substitution of institutional interreligious dialogue by other channels. Although we suggest that the third is the most potent explanation to pursue, we do not aim to provide a comprehensive explanation for the Shia–Sunni religious dialogue deficit. Instead, our aspiration is mainly to present and substantiate a puzzle that has not been identified or discussed in previous research. This can set an agenda for a reinvigorated research endeavor into the contemporary challenges for interreligious peacemaking.

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A Contribution to the Understanding of Middle Eastern and Muslim Exceptionalism

Cited by 30 publications

References 40 publications

The determinants of democracy: a sensitivity analysis

The determinants of democracy: a sensitivity analysis

State Building in the Middle East

Why Is There So Little Shia–Sunni Dialogue? Understanding the Deficit of Intra-Muslim Dialogue and Interreligious Peacemaking

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