Arab citizens’ views on the role of Islam in politics?

1) Support for political Islam and support for democracy

Those who favour important role for Islam are not necessarily

expressing opposition to democracy.

A clear division opinion of Islam in political affairs is present

among those who support democracy. But, the salient division is

between those who favor 1) secular democracy and those who

favor a 2) political system that is both democratic and Islamic.

Hence, support for democracy does not necessarily mean support

for secular democracy.

- 78 - positive to democracy

- 22% - negative judgment to democracy.

- Among the supporters to democracy, the

percentage of those who support political role

for Islam in democracy is more than those

who support secular democracy.

2) Political culture and democracy – There is no much difference

between those who support Islam and democracy with those who

support democracy and do not favor Islam (secular democracy).

Extent of democratic political culture in the Arab world is

translated as the follows:

Independent variables: Gender equality, level of tolerance, interpersonal

trust, level of civic participation [Indicators of democracy].

1) Gender and democracy: In democracy, the population must show

strong support to women’s rights and opportunities.

Result in Arab world: Substantial support for gender equality but fewer

acceptances of women as political leaders.

2) Tolerance and diversity: In democracy, support for tolerance

prevents ethnic conflict; democracy can survives and function

(because of stability). Democracy also requires all people to be

respected in the eyes of the law. Without respect, citizens will not

be able to hold leaders accountable for their own actions. WHY ?

With no tolerance to diverse opinions, the citizens cannot criticize

government policies and actions or express views that the

majorities disagrees.

Result in the Arab world: High level of tolerance – openness to diverse

political ideas and 2/3 rejects the proposition that the political rights of

non-Muslims should be inferior to those of Muslims

3) Interpersonal trusts: Citizens must trust one another in a

functioning democracy. How? They must believe that most women

and men are fair-minded, reasonable and they are the best judge

of how a country should be governed.

Advantages of citizens with high level of trust:

a) Insist better government – make government accountable,

hence responsive – when citizens will work together and

engage in collective action

b) Stable democracy – citizens understand the necessity of co-

operation and willing to compromise in a democratic regime –

lower level of demonstrations and protests)

Results in the Arab World: Low interpersonal trusts. For instance, 32%

says people can be trusted

4) Civic participation: Vibrant civil society to check the power of the

government. Interest groups/ CSO allow citizens to monitor

government actions, articulate interests and exert political

influence. CSOs functions as training ground to learn politics- in

CSOs, people learn to organize, direct meetings circulate petition,

organizing demonstration.

Results in the Arab World: Levels of civic participation also low – only

1/5 belong to and organisation and 1/3 say they attended a campaign

rally or signed petition.

5) Political knowledge – Important and effective for democracy.

Those who are interested about politics are likely to follow political

affairs and participate in civic activities. Citizens are more likely to

monitor government policy. Citizens are more likely to participate

in politics and make informed assessments when an issue is

important to them and if they possess relevant political knowledge.

Results in the Arab world – Moderate - Half of the respondents were

able to correctly identify their country’s foreign minister (46%) and

speaker of Parliament (50%).

Support to political Islam [ in the system] – Who supports

democracy? Rich? Poor? Young? Old?

The explanatory reasons for the wide division between those who

support secular democracy and those who favor political system that are

Islamic and democratic can be assessed by looking at the relationship

between personal attributes (IV) and support for political Islam

(dependent variable).

(IV) Personal attributes: Income, Age, Education level, Gender (in

most instances no significant between personal attributes and support

for political Islam except for a few countries)- It means the association

is not strong as the results did not reflect the experience in all

countries.

o Gender wise the data does not support the

propositions that women are more or less likely to

support political Islam than men in all countries.

Hence we should rule out the idea of gender linked

differences in political system preference. Support for

Islam over democracy is disproportionately likely to a

significant degree among less educated individuals in

Palestine and Yemen, among younger individuals in

Palestine and poor families in Morocco.

Studies in political culture also find that among the large proportion of

Muslim Arabs who support democracy, those with strong attachment to

their religion (measuring the frequency of reading Al-Quran and

importance of having one’s child marry someone who is religiously

observant, are disproportionately likely to favour political system.

Conclusion: Challenge the popular stereotypes that Islam and

democracy is not compatible as support for democracy and democratic

values are no less present among citizens with positive attitude towards

political Islam.