Prof.: Mid-East regimes thwart democracy
Regimes in the Middle East have been able to resist democratization not just because they are strong but also because their institutional structures allow them to split opposition movements, Ellen Lust-Okar said in a lecture last night. Lust-Okar -- a political science professor at Yale whose research often focuses on the Arab world -- examined the rift between secular and Islamic reformists before concluding that democracy is not destined to failure in the Middle East and North Africa. Autocratic governments are far more prevalent in the Middle East than anywhere else, Lust-Okar said.
