Interim Report: Workshop on 'The Politics of Elections and the Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East: Perspectives from Within and Below'

On 3 September 2007, Birzeit University, Palestine, played host to a Workshop devoted to the broad theme of elections in the Middle East, looking especially at perspectives from within and below. This Workshop was the first stage in a much larger project on Democracy in the Middle East, and will be followed by a second Workshop, to be held at the London Middle East Institute, SOAS, on 8 December 2007. The project is sponsored by the British Academy and is being organised by Dr Stephanie Cronin, University of Northampton, UK, Dr Nur Masalha, Holy Land Research Project, St Mary's University College, UK and Dr Helga Baumgarten, Birzeit University, Palestine.

The objective of the Workshop, and of the larger project of which it was the first stage, is to develop a framework for understanding the conditions within which democratic processes can function in the Middle East. Through the Workshops and resulting publications, the project will examine the efforts both to hold elections in the Middle East, and to insist on their results prevailing, looking at a period stretching from the late nineteenth century to the present. A central concern is to examine the roles played by the West, by indigenous elites, whether tied to western interests or active in nationalist movements, and by lower social layers and classes, often deemed to be indifferent to high politics. A discourse of democracy has recently come to occupy a pivotal position in the formulation of Western, particularly United States and British, foreign policy towards the Middle East. According to this view, the establishment of democratic governance in the Middle East will bring about peace within the region, both intra-state and domestic peace, as well as improved relations between individual Middle Eastern countries and the wider world.

The view from within the Middle East is rather different. There is widespread scepticism regarding the motives of the US and Britain and a tendency to view the 'democracy discourse' as a veil intended to conceal other objectives which are less palatable both to Middle Eastern and to Western public opinion. Both elite and popular comment points to the selective application of the 'democracy discourse', the failure to apply a consistent approach to allies and enemies alike, and a historical record which casts doubt on the West's ultimate commitment to democratic values should the political process produce an unwelcome outcome. Voices from within the Middle East argue that a perpetual struggle to bring about reform has, far from receiving outside support, been repeatedly suppressed by Western action, often in collusion with local anti-democratic elements. They further point to the historical reality that the establishment of parliaments and other accoutrements of democracy in Western countries was never imposed from above or outside but was only achieved after many bitter domestic struggles between elites defending their power, and subaltern groups challenging that power.

Recently the clash in interpretations of the 'democracy discourse' has come to a head with the election of Hamas in the Palestinian Territories and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, episodes which have been interpreted in diametrically opposing ways by each side of the debate. At the same time the attempt to introduce democracy into Iraq from outside has been fraught with difficulty, leading to apparent national fragmentation and the rise of sectarianism. For both sides of the debate, elections are key. The Workshops seek to map the historical and contemporary experience of electoral politics in the Middle East. Among the questions they ask are the following: which social groups have been in favour of elections and which opposed? How have elections, even where imperfectly conducted, affected the development of civil society generally, e.g. in the organisation of political parties, free press and assembly, public opinion? What are the various constitutional and political frameworks within which elections have been held? What have been the struggles over suffrage rights, e.g. for universal suffrage against gender and property qualifications? How have different groups reacted to the loss of power implied in the...