POL 303

POL 303: Middle Eastern Politics and Democratic Systems. There has been much talk on the part of the U.S. administration about implanting or advancing democratic regimes in the region. What do the administration and western political scientists mean by democracy? What do people in the region mean by it? To what extent are current Middle Eastern states democratic by either reckoning? To what extent might countries in the region be “democratic” in ways that conventional western political theory might not recognize, with its emphasis on political parties, state apparatuses, and parliamentary elections?