Publication: Policy Paper 1 Rethinking Civic Activism in the Middle East

Agency without Association?

Tags: Iran , Syria , West Asia , Civil Society in West Asia

Despite the sustained and genuine efforts of committed civic activists, and a ‘surge’ of civil society organisations and democracy promotion over the course of the past two decades in the Middle East, hopes for genuine and far-reaching democratic reforms have reached an apparent dead-end. This is in apparent contrast to civil societies in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, which also faced authoritarian regimes and yet managed to engender democratic changes. Consequently, this Middle Eastern ‘democracy deficit’ has led to disappointment, disenchantment, despair and even over-determinism among (some) academics and activists in the region and internationally, who feel that the exceptional and peculiar Middle East is doomed to be governed by authoritarian regimes. This paper presents the characteristics of the context in which civic activists operate. It provides a discussion of the role of the ‘unusual suspects’ — new media and private sector – in democratisation processes, particularly in Syria and Morocco and addresses the concepts of active citizenship, civic culture and social non movements.