Hybrid Regimes and Arab Democracy

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the political future of Egypt and the Arab world, which may include a steady deepening of liberalism and, possibly, democracy. It suggests that a full transition to democracy is not likely in any contemporary Arab regime. However, for hybrid regimes that share characteristics of both an autocratic order and a democratic order, a reversion to full authoritarianism is equally unlikely. In order to understand the future of democracy in the Arab world, we need to understand how these hybrid regimes emerge, why they remain stable, and whether they will transition toward democracy. The theoretical literature on hybrid regimes provides a valuable starting point for this analysis. The chapter presents an analytical approach for studying the emergence of a hybrid regime and applies it to Egypt. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.