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From the 22 countries in the Arab League, no single one qualifies as a democracy. The first Arab ... more From the 22 countries in the Arab League, no single one qualifies as a democracy. The first Arab Human Development Report issued by UNDP in 20022 stresses that "political participation is less advanced in the Arab world than in any other developing region" and, in a telling euphemism, that "transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common phenomenon". This problem, the absence of democracy in a whole religion, is a problem in itself and remarkable enough to study for three main reasons. First, democracy, through the past century has become a universal value, and is increasingly recognized, though not always accepted, as the right system of governance. It became the default setting 1 for governance systems and the natural model to follow. Therefore it is its absence, and not its presence, that becomes the relevant issue to study. Studying why it didn't happen in the Arab world is as relevant as studying why it happened in other regions. Second, when Islam arguably constitutes an essential component of the Arab culture, there seems to be no incompatibility between this religion and democracy, given the examples of Turkey, Indonesia or Bangladesh. Therefore, an exploration of non strictly religious factors such as institutions and political economy seems necessary to explain the specificity of the region. Third, the temptation is great to blame the problem on cultural issues. Claims that Arabs are ontologically undemocratic are regularly made by scholars and commentators. "At present an Arab democrat is not even an idealization, it's a contradiction in terms", says David Pryce-Jones 2 . The question I shall try to answer here is then the following: are Arabs unfit for democracy? I will assert that there is nothing in the Arab culture against democracy. I will then argue that the problem is due primarily to structural and political reasons. Finally, I will argue that democracy, far from being a "Western commodity", is, from both a pragmatic and a moral standpoints, good for the Arab world.

From the 22 countries in the Arab League, no single one qualifies as a democracy. The first Arab ... more From the 22 countries in the Arab League, no single one qualifies as a democracy. The first Arab Human Development Report issued by UNDP in 20022 stresses that "political participation is less advanced in the Arab world than in any other developing region" and, in a telling euphemism, that "transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common phenomenon". This problem, the absence of democracy in a whole religion, is a problem in itself and remarkable enough to study for three main reasons. First, democracy, through the past century has become a universal value, and is increasingly recognized, though not always accepted, as the right system of governance. It became the default setting 1 for governance systems and the natural model to follow. Therefore it is its absence, and not its presence, that becomes the relevant issue to study. Studying why it didn't happen in the Arab world is as relevant as studying why it happened in other regions. Second, when Islam arguably constitutes an essential component of the Arab culture, there seems to be no incompatibility between this religion and democracy, given the examples of Turkey, Indonesia or Bangladesh. Therefore, an exploration of non strictly religious factors such as institutions and political economy seems necessary to explain the specificity of the region. Third, the temptation is great to blame the problem on cultural issues. Claims that Arabs are ontologically undemocratic are regularly made by scholars and commentators. "At present an Arab democrat is not even an idealization, it's a contradiction in terms", says David Pryce-Jones 2 . The question I shall try to answer here is then the following: are Arabs unfit for democracy? I will assert that there is nothing in the Arab culture against democracy. I will then argue that the problem is due primarily to structural and political reasons. Finally, I will argue that democracy, far from being a "Western commodity", is, from both a pragmatic and a moral standpoints, good for the Arab world.