Do Islamic Orientations Influence Attitudes Toward Democracy in the Arab World? Evidence from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Algeria

Abstract

Research on democratic transitions and consolidation has emphasized the importance not only of structural factors, such as institutional reform and economic development, but also political culture. There are differing scholarly opinions about whether a democratic political culture can emerge in the Arab world, however. More specifically, there is disagreement about whether the Islamic attachments of ordinary citizens discourage the emergence of democratic attitudes and values. Against this background, the present study uses World Values Survey data from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Algeria to assess the influence of Islamic orientations on attitudes toward democracy. Two separate attitudinal measures pertaining to democracy are dependent variables in the analysis. Independent variables include measures pertaining both to personal religious involvement and the role of Islam in political affairs. The results of this analysis, which are similar in all four countries, show that strong Islamic attachments do not discourage or otherwise influence support for democracy to any significant degree.

Vote for Your Family! Particularism, Support for Democracy and Support for Shari’a in the Arab World

“…Trust in army and Internet use turn out to be positively and significantly related to support for democracy. Religiosity does not exhibit statistical significance in either model, which is congruent with the findings of previous studies (Tessler 2002a and2002b).…”

Missing the Third Wave: Islam, Institutions, and Democracy in the Middle East

“…There is evidence that predominantly Muslim countries are less democratic than non-Muslim countries (Fish 2002), but Stepan and Robertson (2003) effectively argue that there is an "Arab" rather than a "Muslim" democracy gap. Moreover, after examining results from a recent World Values Survey in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Algeria, Mark Tessler (2002Tessler ( , 2010 finds little relationship between individuals' levels of religiosity and their attitudes toward democracy. He concludes (2002, p. 19), "[t]here is little evidence, at least at the individual level of analysis, to support the claims of those who assert that Islam and democracy are incompatible.…”

“…Survey research in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa allows us to gauge attitudes toward democracy, although the construction of the surveys is slightly different, producing some problems with comparability. Surveys conducted in a number of MENA countries consistently find that the vast majorityas many as 80-90%-of the citizens favor democracy (Tessler 2002(Tessler , 2010Tessler and Jamal 2008). This figure is similar to, and indeed in many cases higher than, the level of support for democracy found in other regions (e.g., Africa, Latin America) where democracy has taken hold.…”

Morocco: Modelling Stability in Turbulent Waters

“…Interpretive frameworks vary from the geopolitical (Cavatorta, 2001) to democratization (Den Hartog, 1998), and debate exists on the efficacy of authoritarian stability (Bellin, 2012 andGause, 2011). Rarely are cultural institutions like religion and education considered in this literature, and, if they are, their role is heavily generalized (Tessler, 2002), or downplayed (Den Hartog 1998). By and large, the literature on North African politics largely maintains the pessimistic view of regime stability articulated by Hudson in 1977. Unfortunately, countries that manage to maintain stability and peaceful transitions of power during the last thirty years of tumult are either overlooked as aberrations, or given doubtful outlooks of continued stability.…”