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Journal article
The Economics of Democracy in Muslim Countries
Middle East Quarterly, Vol.15(3), pp.3-11
Summer 2008
Abstract
Last year was a tumultuous one for democracy in Muslim-majority countries. On July 22, 2007, despite Turkish military warnings three months earlier about the danger to secularism posed by the impending election,[1] the Islamist Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi—AKP) won the Turkish parliamentary elections, leading Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to proclaim "democracy, security, and stability" to be the real winners."[2] Then, on November 3, 2007, General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, suspending the constitution. Shortly after, assassins gunned down Benazir Bhutto, the leading secular oppositionist. Such events demonstrate not just the fragility of democracy in Muslim countries, but the complicated role that the military plays in such states—sometimes as a protector of secularism, but frequently, as an enforcer of the power of anti-democratic regimes.
Details
- Title
- The Economics of Democracy in Muslim Countries
- Publication Details
- Middle East Quarterly, Vol.15(3), pp.3-11
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Middle East Forum
- Copyright
- ©1994-2024 Middle East Forum
- Identifiers
- 99380501088106600
- Academic Unit
- Psychology; Usha Kundu, MD College of Health
- Language
- English