Freedom and Democracy in The Middle East and North Africa

1
Freedom and DemocracyinThe Middle East and
North Africa

• By Nick Langeland

2
Purpose

• To investigate changing levels of democracy in
  the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from 1972
  to 2007.

3
Literature Review

• What is Democracy
• What is democracy in the Middle East and North
  Africa?
• Why?
• Four main explanations
• Cultural Exceptionalism
• Structuralism
• Practical Problems
• Modernist Theory

4
Hypothesis

• Clear difference in democratization patterns
• Evidence to support multiple explanations

5
Study Area

• 19 countries
• Excluded Palestinian Territories and Western
  Sahara
• The Yemeni question

6
Data

• Freedom House
• Freedom in the World
• ESRI database

7
Methods

• GIS analysis
• Existing data

8
Results

• Graphs
• Freedom In the World
• Freedom in the region
• Geographic distribution of Freedom
• Specific country scenarios

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Freedom in the World
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Freedom in the MENA region
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1972
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1973
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1974
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1975
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1976
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1977
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1978
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1979
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1980
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1981
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1982
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1984
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1985
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1986
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1987
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1988
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1989
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1990
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1991
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1992
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1993
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1994
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1995
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1996
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1997
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1998
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1999
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2000
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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2006
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2007
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Tunisia
Not Free
Partially Free
Free
47
Lebanon
Not Free
Partially Free
Free
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Algeria
Not Free
Partially Free
Free
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Limitations

• Survey instrument
• Missing data

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Conclusion