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Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab world . Steven Heydemann By Linda. Steven Heydemann .
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Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab world. Steven Heydemann By Linda
Steven Heydemann. • Steven Heydemann is a political scientist whose research focuses on democratization and economic reform in the Middle East, and on the relationship between institutions and economic development more broadly.
Outline: • Introduction. • ”Upgrading authoritarianism”. • The fivekey features. • Promotion of democracy in the Middle East. • Ex: Authoritarian upgrading in Syria. • Conclusion.
Introduction. • ”(…)authoritarianupgradinginvolvesreconfiguringauthoritariangovernance to accommodate and managechangingpolitical, economic, and social conditions.” s.145.
The fivekey features. • Appropriating and containing civil societies. • Managingpoliticalcontestation. • Capturing the benefits of selectiveeconomic reforms. • Controlling new communicationstechnologies. • Diversifying international linkages.
”Upgrading authoriatanism” • Exploitation of social, political and economicsettings. • Makingelectionssafe for authoritaianism. • Selectiveprocesses of economicliberalization. • Strategies to control and manage acces to communicationtechnologies. • Top-down approach to economicliberalizationwithoutpolitical reform.
Promotion of democracy in the Middle East. • ”Authoritarian regimes has beenforced to adjust an reconfigurethemselves in response to pressures for democratic reform.” • ”Strengthening the democratic and oppositional potential of Arab states have reachedtheir limits.”
Authoritarian upgrading in Syria. • Strictcontrol over civil institutions. • When Bashar al-Asadsuccededprecedency in Syria, 2000 hereceived 98 percent of the votes in 2007 hereceived 97,6 percent of the national referendum. • The ba´ath partys control over markets. • Privitazation etc. (RamiMakhloufowner of Syriatel and firstcousin of Bashar al-Asad). • China and Singapore as investors in Syria.
Conclusion. • (…) Arab regimes have concludedthat the most effectivestrategy for resolving the economic, political, and social problems thatthreatentheirstability is not democratization, but the upgrading of authoritarianstrageies of governane,(…) s. 170.