What Covid-19 has Revealed about the Future of Democracy in the Arab World

Abstract

Admittedly, one may find most literature about Arab democracy to be disheartening and distasteful. You come across academics who would take it to the extreme, arguing that the Arab world is ‘immune’ to democracy. Others, who have chosen to be less pessimistic, argue that Arab authoritarianism is so consolidated to the extent that it would be theoretically impossible to replace. The moderates amongst them hold the view that only with economic pressure from ‘developed’ countries, Arab regimes would opt for allowing weak-form democratic practices to take place; that is limited freedom of expression rather than none, for instance.