Studying Democratization in the Arab World

Efforts to democratize have reached something of an impasse in the Arab world. The majority of the Arab world is Muslim, while only those with ideologies that call for the implementation of Islam in the public as well as private realms are Islamists. Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and other Arab states made attempts at liberal democracy in the postindependence years. In Lebanon, democracy lasted until the eruption of civil war in 1975, and in Sudan, three intervals of democratic government alternated with military rule. Democracy is an ideal form of government. A perfect implementation of democracy is rare, even among democratic countries. Democratization "is the process through which the exercise of political power by the state becomes less arbitrary and exclusive." Early theorizing about transition to democracy concentrated on discovering preconditions that supposedly correlate with democracy, such as socioeconomic factors, political culture, regime legitimacy, and external influences.