Democratic transition : from theoretical issues to Arab experiences

Abstract

Azmi Bishara outlines and cross-references the various theories, paradigms and concepts of "tansitology", studies on democratic transition and those dedicated to modernization, highlighting their aporias and challenging their claim to universalism. Insofar as they were born and developed in the West, like the social sciences as a whole, these studies and approaches are, in reality, no more than area studies. Nevertheless, they should not be excluded from the analysis of Arab countries. He compares the way in which the transition to democracy took place in Tunisia and Egypt, and discusses the factors and reasons why Tunisia achieved democracy, while the process of democratic transformation was aborted in Egypt.

Azmi Bishara

Researcher and writer, Azmi Bishara has written numerous books and research articles on philosophy, political thought and social theory, in addition to several literary works. After obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from Berlin's Humboldt University in 1986, he held the position of Professor of Philosophy and History of Political Thought at Bir Zeit University from 1986 to 1996. He is one of the founders of Muwatin, the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, and Mada al-Carmel: Arab Center for Applied Social Research. Azmi Bishara is the founder of the National Democratic Assembly (Balad), an Arab-Palestinian party within the Green Line. For four consecutive legislatures, from 1996 to 2007, he represented his party as an elected member of the Knesset. Since 2007, he has been based in Qatar and heads the ACRPS. Azmi Bishara was awarded the Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2002, and the Global Exchange Human Rights Prize in 2003.