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BOOK:

Islam and Democracy: State-Society Relations in the Developing Countries, 1980-1994 (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 2000). It includes six chapters and provides qualitative as well as quantitative accounts for the presence/absence of democracy in most developing Muslim and non-Muslim countries. The study utilizes multiple regression analyses in a cross-national study of 86 LDCs to test, and ultimately refute, cultural explanations of democratization. A number of explanatory variables are proposed to account for the presence or the absence of democracy in developing countries. In the final analysis, the proposition that the absence of democracy in Islamic countries is due to Islam is rejected. Instead, social, economic, and political explanations are provided to account for the absence of democracy in most LDCs, including those in the Middle East.

ARTICLES:

  • “Iraq: What Went Wrong,” in David W. Lesch, ed., The Middle East and the United States: A Historical and Political Reassessment, 4th ed., forthcoming, 2006.

  • “Iran’s June 2005 Presidential Election and the Questions of Democracy,” MIT’s Iran Analysis Quarterly, Vol. 4, no. 4, November-December, 2005.

  • “Iran's 2004 Parliamentary Election and the Question of Democracy,”
    MIT’s Iran Analysis Quarterly, Vol.1 No.3, Winter (January-March) 2004, pp. 2-6,
    available @ http://web.mit.edu/isg/IAQ/IAQWINTER04.htm#Abootalebi

  • “Political Islam, Governance and Democracy,” Turkish Policy Quarterly,
    Spring 2004, pp. 37-43, available http://www.turkishpolicy.com/

  • Iran’s Struggle for Democracy Continues: An Evaluation of Twenty-Five
    Years After the Revolution, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Volume 8, No. 2 -
    June 2004: 38-47. Available @ http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2004/issue2/jv8n2a4.html

  • “The 1979 Iranian Revolution rid Iran of a repressive tyrant,” in David W.
    Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel, eds. History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second
    Series (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • “Arab economic development is a cup half-full,” in David W. Lesch, and
    Benjamin Frankel, eds., History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series
    (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • “Islam is compatible with democracy,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin
    Frankel, eds., History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York:
    St. James Press, 2003).

  • “Militant Islam is on the rise,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel,
    eds., History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York: St. James
    Press, 2003).

  • “Militant Islam is not on the rise,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin
    Frankel, eds., History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York:
    St. James Press, 2003).

  • “The attacks of September 11, 2001 can in large measure be blamed on
    U.S. policy over the years,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel, eds., History in
    Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • “U.S. in Afghanistan has been a fully warranted response to 9/11,” in
    David W. Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel, eds., History in Dispute: The Middle East Since
    1945, Second Series (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • “Civil society in the Arab world is suffocating under authoritarian regimes
    in the Arab world,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel, eds., History in Dispute: The
    Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • “The West has done enough to communicate its ideas and values to the
    Arab and Muslim world,” in David W. Lesch, and Benjamin Frankel, eds., History in
    Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, Second Series (New York: St. James Press, 2003).

  • "Islam and Democracy," in Barry Rubin (editor) Contemporary Islamist
    Movements in the Middle East (SUNY Press, 2003), pp. 155-71.

  • “Islam, Islamists, and Democracy,” Muslim World Reference Shelf
    Series (H. W. Wilson, 2002).

  • “State-Society Relations and Prospects for Democracy in Iran,” Middle
    East Review of International Affairs, MERIA, vol. 5, no. 3 (September 2001): 20-37.

  • Islam and Democracy: State-Society Relations in the Developing
    Countries, 1980-1994 (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 2000).

  • “Pazhuheshi dar Masa’il va Mushkelat-e Fa’li: Dastgahai Iqtisadi dar
    Khavar-e Mianeh (An Overview of Current Issues and Problems: Middle Eastern
    Economies), Hambasteqi (Tehran, Iran), no. 48, 1379 (4 December 2000): 6.

  • “The Struggle for Democracy in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Middle
    East Review of International Affairs, MERIA," vol. 4, no. 3 (September 2000): 43-56.

  • “Didgahi Chand Dar Bareh-i Yikparchegi va Vahdat-i Melli” (National
    Integration and Unity: Some Observations), National Studies Quarterly (Tehran, Iran), vol.
    1, (Winter-Spring 1378-1379 (2000): 175-88.

  • "Middle East Economies: A Survey of Current Problems and Issues,"
    Middle East Review of International Affairs, MERIA," vol. 3, no. 1 (September 1999): 1-
    16.

  • "Huquq-i Melli, Aqaliatha va Hamgara'i” (National Rights, Minorities and
    Integration), National Studies Quarterly (Tehran, Iran), vol. 1, no. 1, 1378 (Autumn 1999):
    132-153.

  • "Islamgira'e va democracy" (Islamic Tendencies and Democracy),
    Azadegan, (Tehran, Iran), vol. 1, nos.13, 15 (November 13, 15, 1999). A two-part series
    translation of my article on Islam and Democracy.

  • "Islam, Islamists, and Democracy," Middle East Review of International
    Affairs, MERIA, vol. 3, no. 1 (March 1999): 14-24.

  • "Coping with Ethnic and Minority Diversity," Department of Political
    Science Newsletter (Spring 1999): 1-2.

  • "Civil Society, Democracy, and the Middle East, "Middle East Review of
    International Affairs, MERIA, vol. 2, no. 3 (September 1998): 46-59.

  • "Ideological Currents in Islam," Center for Iranian Research and
    Analysis Bulletin, vol. 14, no. 2 (September 1998): 11-15.

  • "Election Matters," Center for Iranian Research and Analysis Bulletin
    (CIRA), vol. 14, no. 1 (March 1998): 30-33.

  • "Democratization in Developing Countries: 1980-89," Journal of
    Developing Areas 29 (July 1995): 507-30.