Conceptualization of “domesticated opposition”
The concept of “domesticated opposition” is used by scholars to describe opposition parties that are loyal rather than competitors and that have complied with the government’s game of restricted pluralism.
Also dubbed as “toothless”, domesticated opposition hardly challenge the regime’s semi-authoritarianism and are not part of the decision making process. They have come to depend on the regime’s consent to secure their minimal political gains and to protect the narrow political space in which they are operating (Shehata, 2009). In other words, rather than opposing the regime’s policies, they made a policy of pleasing the government into accepting their existence.
Will use the same general concept in referring to the secular legal opposition in Egypt during Mubarak’s era.
Operationalization of “domesticated opposition”:
Will measure it by how much the legal secular opposition in Egypt during Mubarak’s era was: weak, loyal, coopted, coerced and permit/agree to state clientalism.
Conceptualization of Autocracy:
According to Palgrave MacMillan dictionary of political thought, Autocracy literally means “self-rule”. “It is the rule by an agent who holds all power himself, and who exercises that power in an arbitrary manner.”
The presence of constitution and laws which limit his power can be revoked or disregard by him at will as there is no independent mechanism for enforcing them.
The principal feature is that the ruler may affect each of his subjects at any time in any way that he pleases, and in a manner that admits of no redress. “Autocracy should therefore be seen as the perversion of absolutism, in which power is not only absolute but also arbitrary,” according to MacMillan dic...
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...he boundaries of judicial legality are vague. Opposition movements may well be illegal in that they are not granted formal judicial authorization strategy of containment but are informally tolerated and recognized such as the Muslim Brotherhood. On the other hand, opposition groups might be legally recognized but face other forms of statist containment, ranging from the limited “freezing” of the respective group to more coercive mechanisms, such as the incarceration of its leaders and confiscation of material and financial assets.
Political parties have also become a target of the inconsistent application of the law; the socialist-turned-Islamist Socialist Labor Party (SLP) and the Liberal Party (LP) have received “freeze” orders; but the parties were never practically dissolved and their representatives found ways to participate actively in public life.
Totalitarianism is the term that is used to describe the political system where the government holds total authority ove...
There are two ways to get rid of the causes of factions, or political parties. The first way of removing these causes is to destroy the liberty essential to their existence. The second way to get rid of the causes is to give everyone the exact same o...
Party is an inevitable feature of the democracy and it is defined as ‘an autonomous group of citizens having the purpose of making nominations and contesting elections in the hope of gaining control over governmental power through the capture of public offices and the organization of the government’ (Caramani, 2011, p.220). Parties are ubiquitous in modern political systems and they perform a number of functions, they are: coordination, contesting elections, recruitment, and representation (Caramani, 2011). Political parties are the product of the parliamentary and electoral game, and party systems reflect the social oppositions that characterize society when parties first appear (Coxall et al., 2011).
The spread of democracy has been one of the largest and most widely heralded trends in government worldwide – its prevalence and impact has been the subject of much political discussion and debate. In many cases, however, fewer observers focus on the electoral system used by the democratic governments themselves, which are in many cases equally important to the ultimate shape of the government formed. In general, the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system that is used in Canadian Federal Elections has excluded and prevented third parties from having a large impact on the national stage post-WWII, forcing a bipartisan system of government. Central to this paper is an analysis on how third parties, in this case minor broad-based parties
In our Canadian parliamentary system there are many ideologies and practices which aid in the successful running of our country. One of the more important ideologies and practices in our political system is the notion of strict party discipline. Party discipline refers to the notion of members of a political party “voting together, according to the goals and doctrines of the party, on issues that are pertinent to the government” or opposition in the House of Commons. In this paper, I will be discussing the practice of party discipline in the Canadian parliamentary system as well as the ways in which a change in the practice of strict party discipline to weaker party discipline would result in more positive effects on the practice of Canadian politics rather than more negative ones.
...ection against the government. Others believe that courts must be more active and open to expand the ideas of liberty even if it is required to strike down the majoritarian law in order to protect the minority group from government interference.
a government in which all power belongs to one person : the rule or authority of a tyrant
Autocracy-A government system, where a person or group has total power over a country. The Russian autocrat at the time of the emancipation of the serfs was Alexander the Second who was assassinated.
A "guided republic" is a form of government where an essentially omnipotent council determines the legislation passed by the legislative body. Though the legislative and executive branches may be elected by the people, they supervising power is not and therefore has the ability to rule in any way they please. The council can, and often does, refuse the rights to freedom of press, speech, and religion. They may prevent bills that attempt to revive these powers and, in the same sense, may prohibit people from speaking about ideas that oppose those of the council. This governing group does not hesitate to use violent force to protect their power. At its worst, a "guided republic" is a tyrannical fo...
The representative population of a community is not comfortable when confronted by an individual who defies the laws that bind them. Whether or not the laws or the powers behind them are just, the populace must deal with any challenge to their authority. In some cases, the community, fearful of a powerful regime, will side with that power and avoid the risks associated with rebellion. Others find the tyranny too unjust to stand idly by and, risking their lives, join with other defiant individuals against it.
Ghanem, As'ad, and Mohanad Mustafa. "Strategies Of Electoral Participation By Islamic Movements: The Muslim Brotherhood And Parliamentary Elections In Egypt And Jordan, November 2010." Contemporary Politics 17.4 (2011): 393-409. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Autocratic leaders possess total control of all of the decisions and rarely take input from their employees. It is a totalitarian form of management. In the past autocratic leadership was
In many Middle Eastern countries, there has been civil unrest. Primarily, the unrest is caused by frustration with the government. In some cases, added tension surrounds religion, specifically whether the government should be religiously based or secular. Four countries, Libya, Yemen, Egypt and Syria, are rife with civil protest. While there are similarities among the four as to the particulars of their protests, careful analysis must be made before a decision on a course of action can be determined. Each country has its own history and particular goals to be considered.
Zakaria, F. (2007). The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (Revised Edition). New York: W. W. Norton.
Abed-Kotob, Sana. The Accommondationists Speak: Goals and Strategies of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. Combridge University, August, 1995. Web.