Due-Gundersen, Nicolai (2020) Defending dictatorship across North Africa, the Levant and the Gulf : the non-democratic legitimacy of Arab presidents and monarchs during the Arab Spring as understood through qualitative discourse analysis. (PhD thesis), Kingston University, .
Abstract
The Arab Spring is a series of revolutions in the Arab world. Most literature addresses the Arab Spring as a result of socio-economic ails, its spread through social media, the role of youth during the Arab Spring and the relationship between the Arab Spring and democratic transition. No current literature addresses non-democratic legitimacy within the context of the Arab Spring through qualitative discourse analysis. Qualitative discourse analysis of select speeches given by Arab leaderships during the Arab Spring examines how non-democratic political factors are emphasized to validate the rule of kings and republicans, including religion, welfare and security. Discourse analysis of select speeches is deepened by analyzing the role of constitutional legitimacy as a form of non-democratic legitimacy during the Arab Spring. As recent literature discusses the prospect of democratic transition post-Arab Spring, this investigation contrasts this trend to contribute original knowledge by exploring how select speeches draw on non-democratic political factors of related constitutions to also examine how non-democratic legitimacy is formalized. This project contributes original knowledge on the strength of non-democratic legitimacy during the Arab Spring and is suitable for International Relations scholars, investors interested in the Arab world and policy makers who wish to understand how regimes cansurvive unrest. Findings show that while the hypothesis assumes monarchs will draw on religion as a non-democratic factor of political legitimacy and that republicans will emphasize the material ruling bargain, kingdoms with oil are more likely to draw on material benefits to justify their rule than republicans, who themselves engage in attempts to balance the politicization of the ruling bargain with non-democratic justification, including sparse religious references. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an oil-dry monarchy represents the strongest hypothesis confirmation of monarchs drawing on religion and traditionalism rather than a material ruling bargain. Across all case studies, the ability of Arab leaders to draw on constitutional elements to justify non-democratic rule in public discourse is limited, with Jordan again an exception, as Abdullah II enjoys political immunity as King under Jordan’s Constitution.
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