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Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Francesco Cavatorta  and
Azzam Elananza
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Abstract

The lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , 2008 , pp. 561 - 578
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2008.

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Footnotes

1

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Boston, USA in November 2006. The two authors are grateful for the comments received and for this journal's anonymous referees' input. Finally, this research has been made possible by a grant (number HR/05/20) from Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin, Ireland.

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