Week 9 Part I.pptx PDF

Middle East Politics Gender Issues Continuing from democracy in the Middle East Recall our discussion from last week on why democracy has not been faring well in the Middle East. Today’s article offers an interesting connection between Islam, gender gap, and democracy. Fish on Islam an...

Middle East Politics Gender Issues Continuing from democracy in the Middle East Recall our discussion from last week on why democracy has not been faring well in the Middle East. Today’s article offers an interesting connection between Islam, gender gap, and democracy. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism An empirical study Research question: ○ Are Muslim societies more prone to authoritarianism? Hypothesis: ○ Muslim countries are democratic underachievers. Main independent and dependent variables: ○ Islam → Regime type Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Operationalization: ○ Democracy: Dahl’s definition Elected officials make policies; Everyone has a right to run for the office Data: Freedom House scores & Polity Project scores ○ Sample: All countries of the world in contemporary times (N=156) ○ Main IV: A dummy variable on Islam being the predominant religion (N=47) Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Operationalization: ○ Control variables (other IVs): Economic development Sociocultural division Economic performance British colonial heritage Communist heritage Membership in OPEC Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Descriptive table: ○ Muslim countries have lower scores on democracy. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Bivariate analysis: ○ Islam, sociocultural division, and OPEC seems to decrease democracy levels. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Multivariate analysis: ○ Models indicate the IVs included in the analysis ○ Scores come from Freedom House ○ Check the p levels ○ In all models: Islam and OPEC decrease democracy, whereas economic development increases it. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Multivariate analysis: ○ Models indicate the IVs included in the analysis ○ Scores come from Polity ○ Check the p levels ○ In all models: Islam and OPEC decrease democracy, whereas economic development increases it. ○ Confirms the earlier finding. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Result: ○ There seems to be a statistically significant inverse correlation between Islam and democracy. ○ Which looks like Islam causes less democratic regimes. ○ But how do we know that this relationship is causal and not spurious? ○ Remember the golden rule: correlation does not mean causation! What might be some plausible connections between Islam and authoritarianism? Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Could it be that Muslims are more violent and lack interpersonal trust? ○ The changes seems to be explained mostly by the economic development, as Islam remains statistically insignificant in changing the outcome. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Could it be that Muslim states are less secular, looking for a religious leader? ○ Are Muslims more Muslim than Christians are Christian? ○ Is religiosity allied with authoritarianism while secularism with democracy? The author uses case studies to prove the point that both of these assumptions are questionable. ○ There is no good data to test this statistically. Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Could it be the problem of female subordination? Indicators: ○ Literacy rates ○ Sex ratio ○ Women in government ○ Gender empowerment Descriptives first → Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Regression results: ○ More Islam, more literacy gap ○ More Islam, more males than females ○ More Islam, less women in government ○ More Islam, less gender empowerment Effects on democracy? Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism And… ○ Bigger literacy gap = less democracy ○ More males = less democracy ○ More women in government = more democracy ○ More gender empowerment = more democracy Fish on Islam and Authoritarianism Overall results: ○ Increased levels in women’s literacy, numbers in government, and empowerment seems to increase democracy scores. ○ So, the status and treatment of women affects political regime. ○ So, oppression and subjugation of women seems to decrease democracy levels. ○ This might be one reason why Islamic countries are more prone to authoritarianism. But… ○ How do we know if Islam is the cause of female subjugation?