Ideological Trajectories and Party Building in the Middle East

• In Event: Poster Session: Comparative Politics in Developing Countries I

Abstract

Much of the literature portrays the Middle East as an assortment of traditional societies in which dogmatic norms have priority over statutory law. Although many scholars have argued that traditional politics, such as tribal, communal, and religious councils, are the principal influence on Middle East governance, such views overlook the influence of the region’s principal actors, specifically, political parties as representative elites. This paper will emphasize the importance of party politics and representative institutions, which are typically treated as ‘black boxes’ in Middle East studies. There is little doubt that the democratic deficit in the Middle East is due either to the existence of authoritarianism, the absence of an independent civil society or to both. However, authoritarian politics needs to be unpacked to reveal how institutions and actors work in their various forms. With this perspective in mind, I ask the following question: How does the trajectory of nation-state building shape party building?
Examining the links between political parties, the state, and social forces, will provide insights into the state’s main actors. Existing literature depicts the state as an institution responsible for how power evolves and is projected through society, aided by the citizens’ responses and participation. Thus, we need to understand, for example, how the state’s founding national philosophy or ideology, interacting with its social actors, represented by the masses, elites and their representations within the state and within the existing political parties, contribute to party development. Using process tracing combined with comparative method, the paper will expand the theoretical framework of party development within the context of semi-authoritarian states, linking the processes of cleavage and nationalism to party development. It aims at a novel understanding and reevaluation of the manifestation of the political and social cleavage in the Middle East, explaining its changing features, and the fall of the left, and rise of the right, Islamic, and populist parties, by offering a comparative study of political parties development.

Author

• Miaad Hassan, University of Florida