Today, approximately 60 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries categorised as “partly free” or “not free.” This is partially due to a decline in the quality of democracy, but primarily because authoritarian regimes persist. In the MENA region, the Middle East and North Africa, authoritarianism represents the dominant form of rule.
The persistence of long-standing authoritarian regimes in Algeria, Iran, and in the eight Arab monarchies, the restoration of military domination in Egypt, the survival of most brutal rule under conditions of war in Syria, and Turkey’s democratic reversal cannot hide the fact that the Arab uprisings of 2011 led to the first overthrows of authoritarian rulers in the region since the 1950s. Currently, Tunisia represents an exceptional case of a fragile, democratic transition process. Still, the importance of authoritarian structures should not be mistaken for lacking political dynamism in the region.
Based on these observations, the GIGA investigates central aspects of authoritarian rule and political changes in the region. In particular, GIGA researchers deal with the following questions:
- What are the most important factors influencing the survival of authoritarian regimes, and what causes their weakening and breakdown?
- Which tested forms of political rule, including repression and co-optation, have been successful in the stabilisation of authoritarian regimes?
- What new forms of political legitimation have been developed?
- Which oppositional actors have formed anew, which existing groups are experiencing a transformation under changed framework conditions?
- What kind of transnational exchange is occurring between the various actors?