This Handbook analyzes elections in the Middle East and North Africa and seeks to overcome normative assumptions about the linkage between democracy and elections.
Structured around five main themes, contributors provide chapters detailing how their case studies illustrate specific themes within individual country settings. Authors disentangle the various aspects informing elections as a process in the Middle East by taking into account the different contexts where the electoral contest occurs and placing these into a broader comparative context. The findings from this Handbook connect with global electoral developments, empirically demonstrating that there is very little that is “exceptional” about the Middle East and North Africa when it comes to electoral contests.
Routledge Handbook on Elections in the Middle East and North Africa is the first book to examine all aspects related to elections in the Middle East and North Africa. Through such comprehensive coverage and systematic analysis, it will be a key resource for students and scholars interested in politics, elections, and democracy in the Middle East and North Africa.
Author(s): Francesco Cavatorta, Valeria Rest
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 460
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Chapter 1 Elections in the Middle East and North Africa
Part I Elections in authoritarian settings
Chapter 2 The functions of authoritarian elections: Symbolism, safety valves, and clientelism
Chapter 3 Elections and the bureaucratic management of plurality in Algeria
Chapter 4 Parliamentary elections under Mohammed VI’s reign (2002–2021)
Chapter 5 Electoral districts in Jordan: An analytical study
Chapter 6 Elections in Mauritania: The role of the military
Chapter 7 “Only me”: Repression, legal engineering, and state-managed elections in Sisi’s Egypt
Part II Elections in democratic and quasi-democratic settings
Chapter 8 Israel’s electoral system and political instability: Electoral fragmentation, party unity, and the prime minister’s political leadership
Chapter 9 When free and fair elections are not enough: Party fragmentation and unaccountability in Tunisia
Chapter 10 Pre-electoral coalitions in Iraq: The case of the Communist–Sadrist alliance
Chapter 11 Elections and democratic backsliding in Turkey
Chapter 12 From one-sect one-vote to one-man one-vote? Demands for reforming the electoral system in Lebanon
Chapter 13 Competition under systemic religious constraints: Presidential elections in Iran
Part III Rules, institutions, and the infrastructure of elections
Chapter 14 The management of elections in Tunisia: The Independent High Authority for Elections
Chapter 15 Partial and non-partisan: The municipal council elections in Saudi Arabia
Chapter 16 Elections in the Arab World: International monitoring and assistance
Chapter 17 The independence referendum in Kurdistan
Chapter 18 Gender quotas, constituency service, and women’s empowerment: Lessons from Algeria
Part IV Elections and campaigning
Chapter 19 A minority goes to the polls: Arab voters in Israel
Chapter 20 Elections in Occupied Palestine: Control, resistance and contention
Chapter 21 Electoral campaigns in post–Ben Ali’s Tunisia: Electoral expertise and renewed clientelism
Chapter 22 Digital strategies of Tunisian political parties: The case of the 2018 municipal elections
Chapter 23 The role of media in electoral campaigns in the pandemic era: the case of Kuwait
Chapter 24 Opposition coordination under a competitive authoritarian regime: the case of the 2019 local elections in Turkey
Chapter 25 Polarisation and elections under competitive authoritarianism: The case of Turkey after 2013
Chapter 26 From ballots to bullets: Libyan 2012 elections as the origin of the unachieved transition
Part V Voting behaviour
Chapter 27 The rationality of Arab voters: why and how people vote in non-democratic regimes across the MENA region
Chapter 28 Clientelism in MENA elections
Chapter 29 The consequences of Arab parties’ divide and quest for power in Israeli politics on Arab voters
Chapter 30 Class and religious cleavages: the case of Lebanon
Chapter 31 Ideology and electoral choices in Arab elections
Chapter 32 The Arab Generation Z: From Disillusionment to Pragmatism
Index
