Trajectories and Accommodations of Democracy and Islam

Abstract

The Middle East has been going through various changes in the last decade with many parties and regimes identifying as Islamic. While the world is shifting focus to the importance of democracy, this thesis aims to better understand Islam and Democracy's accommodation. It elaborates on the reasons the trajectories adopted by different actors can be dissimilar. In doing so, the thesis examines the different democratic practices embraced by Islamist parties. It tackles the case studies of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Iran’s Al Khomeini regime after the revolution of 1979. It examines the political, social, and economic pathways of each party. It finds that the different accommodations of democratic practices are directly related to the benefits that these parties receive. It also finds that the Islamic identity of the AKP and Al Khomeini are associated with the support they need in order to maintain the legitimacy of their governments and achieve the hegemony they strive for. Also, it explains how those adopted trajectories differ based on the historical, cultural, and political realities which lead to the accommodation of different practices to attain the actors’ intended objectives.