"The Battle of Karbala' still rages between the two sides in the present and in the future. It is being held within the soul, at home and in all areas of life and society. People will remain divided and they are either in the Hussain camp or in the Yazid camp. So choose your camp." — 'Ashura' banner in Manama, 2006
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab Gulf
I understand that this may be off topic for those who are interested only in Bahraini politics, but I have a new (co-authored) article in Foreign Policy's Mideast Channel about civil society and democratization in the Arab Gulf, based on new survey data from Qatar. Its main argument is that in the rent-based regimes of the region, where citizens (and organizations) are linked to the state through far-reaching clientelistic networks, the standing notion that civil society tends to lead toward more democracy (or, more specifically, more democratic-oriented citizens) turns out not to be the case.
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