About this Research Topic
We live in an age of perceptions of democratic backsliding and increasing recognition of the challenges with promoting democracy abroad, as well as ongoing questions about the tensions between democracy and liberalism outside the conventional focus on Western Europe and the United States. Ought democracy be assessed based on its outcomes, or pursued as an end in itself? Why do democracies sometimes produce “bad” outcomes—and to what extent should those outcomes be accepted or even accommodated? Shadi Hamid’s The Problem of Democracy proposes “democratic minimalism” as a way of dealing with the age-old question of whether to prioritize liberalism or democracy when the two diverge. Through evidence from Middle East cases where illiberal Islamist parties rise to power through democratic means, Hamid offers insight into understanding democratic dilemmas in the Middle East with important implications for Western democracies and democratic theory more broadly.
This Research Topic-Symposium is organized around these ideas. From this general starting point, the authors should address questions such as:
• Should democracy be a means to other ends, such as liberalism, economic development, or cultural progress?
• How does “democratic minimalism” contrast with alternative perspectives on democracy, such as judging democracy by its results (Brennan 2017)?
• Can democracy be decoupled from liberalism?
• What are the implications for foreign policy – of promoting democracy – from thinking about democracy as a means versus an end in itself?
The authors of the symposium are encouraged to take the arguments in different directions, as well as offer their own unique perspectives on these fundamental questions.
Process: All articles will be sent for peer review. Each article should be between 4000 to 6000 words. Authors who agree to participate will receive a copy of Shadi Hamid’s book. Authors whose papers are submitted by the deadline will receive a $500 honorarium from the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. Authors should be able to complete the papers by March 15, 2024.
This Research Topic-Symposium is organized around these ideas. From this general starting point, the authors should address questions such as:
• Should democracy be a means to other ends, such as liberalism, economic development, or cultural progress?
• How does “democratic minimalism” contrast with alternative perspectives on democracy, such as judging democracy by its results (Brennan 2017)?
• Can democracy be decoupled from liberalism?
• What are the implications for foreign policy – of promoting democracy – from thinking about democracy as a means versus an end in itself?
The authors of the symposium are encouraged to take the arguments in different directions, as well as offer their own unique perspectives on these fundamental questions.
Process: All articles will be sent for peer review. Each article should be between 4000 to 6000 words. Authors who agree to participate will receive a copy of Shadi Hamid’s book. Authors whose papers are submitted by the deadline will receive a $500 honorarium from the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. Authors should be able to complete the papers by March 15, 2024.
Keywords: US foreign policy, Middle East politics, Islam and politics, democracy, democratic theory, religious pluralism
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
