Berger, LG (2011) The Missing Link? U.S. Policy and the International Dimensions of Authoritarian Resilience in the Arab World. Political Studies, 59 (1). 38 - 55. ISSN 0032-3217
Abstract
In contrast to the hopes of some US observers, the so-called 'Baghdad Spring' of early 2005 did not mark the beginning of an era of sustained political reform in the Middle East. In an attempt to explain the resilience of authoritarian governance in the region, this article aims to demonstrate the insufficiencies of external democratisation efforts that rely on a crude reading of the 'modernisation' school of thinking and ignore the insights of the 'transition' school with regard to the international dimensions of democratisation. Case studies of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two countries sharing close strategic relationships with the United States yet differing in the socio-economic foundations of authoritarianism and experiences with managing external and domestic calls for political reform, demonstrate that the unwillingness of the United States to condition its support for regional partners on human rights concerns constitutes one of the main reasons for the Arab world's 'democratic exception'.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2011, Wiley-Blackwell. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Political Studies. Uploaded with permission from the publisher. The definitive version is available at www.wileyonlinelibrary.com. |
Keywords: | United States of America; Political Change; Arab Countries; Authoritarianism (Political Ideology); Governance; Saudi Arabia; Egypt; Baghdad; Iraq; Human Rights |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Sep 2013 08:52 |
Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2014 03:05 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2010.00853.x |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2010.00853.x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:76384 |