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Muslim Democratic Parties: Economic Liberalization and Islamist Moderation in the Middle East

Yildirim, Abdulkadir
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1280199427

Abstract Details

2010, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
Islamist political parties – once marked by their uniformity across countries in their oppositional and non-democratic platforms, and the goal of Islamizing state and society – face challenges leading to the emergence of a qualitatively-different and more moderate kind of political party: the Muslim democratic party (MDP). My dissertation answers two interrelated questions on the rise of MDPs: What explains the emergence of Muslim Democratic Parties recently, and why have these parties been successful in some cases, but not others? I theorize that the way in which a country liberalizes its economy shapes the social foundations of Islamic party politics. MDPs emerge and find societal support when Islamic peripheral businesses find a chance to compete economically – a feature of competitive liberalization –, and peripheral masses experience an improved income. In contrast, when economic liberalization’s reach remains limited because of its uncompetitive character and the perpetuation of pre-liberalization economic structure, societal support for MDPs fails to materialize, leaving Islamist parties’ societal support intact. I call this process crony liberalization. I test my theory in a three-country, structured comparison of Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. These countries were selected in order to maximize the variance I observe on my key causal variables while holding other factors constant following the most similar systems design. In Egypt, I analyze the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin) and the Wasat Party as cases of Islamist and Muslim democratic parties, respectively. In Morocco, the Party for Justice and Development represents the Muslim democratic platform whereas Al-Adl wal-Ihsan functions as the Islamist opposition party. Finally, in Turkey the Justice and Development Party is the Muslim democratic case compared with the National Outlook Movement’s current political representative, the Felicity Party.
Sarah Brooks, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Amaney Jamal, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Marcus Kurtz, PhD (Committee Member)
Irfan Nooruddin, PhD (Committee Member)
404 p.
Political Science
Democratization; political Islam; moderation; Middle East; Muslim democracy; Turkey; Egypt; Morocco; economic liberalization; globalization

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yildirim, A. (2010). Muslim Democratic Parties: Economic Liberalization and Islamist Moderation in the Middle East [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1280199427

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yildirim, Abdulkadir. Muslim Democratic Parties: Economic Liberalization and Islamist Moderation in the Middle East. 2010. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1280199427.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yildirim, Abdulkadir. "Muslim Democratic Parties: Economic Liberalization and Islamist Moderation in the Middle East." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1280199427

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.