Women, the State, and Political Liberalization

By late 1987 a wave of political changes appeared to be underway in the Middle East and North Africa. A number of Arab regimes, manifestly incapable of coping with growing problems of debt, unemployment, and corruption, took different measures towards more political participation. These countries w...

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Autor principal: Heba Raouf Ezzat
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2001
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/53c2094f47b543f0a6e51b304a9e811d
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:53c2094f47b543f0a6e51b304a9e811d2021-12-02T19:22:40ZWomen, the State, and Political Liberalization10.35632/ajis.v18i4.19842690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/53c2094f47b543f0a6e51b304a9e811d2001-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1984https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 By late 1987 a wave of political changes appeared to be underway in the Middle East and North Africa. A number of Arab regimes, manifestly incapable of coping with growing problems of debt, unemployment, and corruption, took different measures towards more political participation. These countries witnessed political openings of various types, some more apparently significant than others but all promising changes that would lessen repression and open the way for greater political participation. In 1991 Laurie A. Brand started her project to study the effect of those changes on women in the region. She was also interested in studying the situation of women under the similar political and economic transformations that swept Eastern Europe in 1989-1990. While the latter continue to unfold, the openings that appeared in the Middle East and North Africa have in virtually all cases been closed. Despite that, the author pursued her project on women and political liberalization to explore the significance of culture - Islam as the omnipresent independent variable in Middle East politics - as opposed to structure. She also investigated the assumption that vibrant women's organizations can be important precursors to more democratic development, to determine what such organizations do and how they relate to the state, other political actors, and each other during such periods. Brand spotted some phenomena, such as the drop in the number of women legislators in local and national assemblies, changes in labor laws or their implementation at women's expense, and attempts to restrict women's personal or political rights - phenomena that have accompanied most of the "democratic'' transitions unfolding in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) ... Heba Raouf EzzatInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 18, Iss 4 (2001)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Heba Raouf Ezzat
Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
description By late 1987 a wave of political changes appeared to be underway in the Middle East and North Africa. A number of Arab regimes, manifestly incapable of coping with growing problems of debt, unemployment, and corruption, took different measures towards more political participation. These countries witnessed political openings of various types, some more apparently significant than others but all promising changes that would lessen repression and open the way for greater political participation. In 1991 Laurie A. Brand started her project to study the effect of those changes on women in the region. She was also interested in studying the situation of women under the similar political and economic transformations that swept Eastern Europe in 1989-1990. While the latter continue to unfold, the openings that appeared in the Middle East and North Africa have in virtually all cases been closed. Despite that, the author pursued her project on women and political liberalization to explore the significance of culture - Islam as the omnipresent independent variable in Middle East politics - as opposed to structure. She also investigated the assumption that vibrant women's organizations can be important precursors to more democratic development, to determine what such organizations do and how they relate to the state, other political actors, and each other during such periods. Brand spotted some phenomena, such as the drop in the number of women legislators in local and national assemblies, changes in labor laws or their implementation at women's expense, and attempts to restrict women's personal or political rights - phenomena that have accompanied most of the "democratic'' transitions unfolding in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) ...
format article
author Heba Raouf Ezzat
author_facet Heba Raouf Ezzat
author_sort Heba Raouf Ezzat
title Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
title_short Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
title_full Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
title_fullStr Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
title_full_unstemmed Women, the State, and Political Liberalization
title_sort women, the state, and political liberalization
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2001
url https://doaj.org/article/53c2094f47b543f0a6e51b304a9e811d
work_keys_str_mv AT hebaraoufezzat womenthestateandpoliticalliberalization
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