Arabs and Democracy: Illusions of Change

Issue Date July 2000
Volume 11
Issue 3
Page Numbers 69-83
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Many observers regarded 1999 as a year of progress for democracy in the Arab world. There is reason to doubt, however, whether any meaningful change has really occurred.

About the Author

Emmanuel Sivan is professor of history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of numerous works, including Radical Islam (1990) and Mythes politiques arabes (1995), and the editor of War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century (1999).

View all work by Emmanuel Sivan

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Getting to Arab Democracy: What Do Iraqis Want?

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Democratization in the Arab World? The Trap of Liberalized Autocracy

Politics in the Arab Middle East is often a matter of powerholders first liberalizing — and then "deliberalizing" — public life in order to first maintain their rule. But this…