BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    The metamorphosis of social movements into political parties during democratic transition processes. A comparison of Egyptian and Tunisian movements and parties

    Zollner, Barbara The metamorphosis of social movements into political parties during democratic transition processes. A comparison of Egyptian and Tunisian movements and parties. In: ISA Annual Convention 2016, 16-19 Mar 2016, Atlanta, U.S.. (Unpublished)

    [img]
    Preview
    Text
    Zollner Metamorphosis ISA submission.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript
    Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

    Download (438kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    Social Movements play a crucial role in the process of democratic transformation. They are the driving force in challenging authoritarianism. It is less recognized that SMs are also the fundamental building blocks for emerging political parties. While there is a significant body of work on the role of SMs in ending authoritarianism, there is little systematic research on either successful or indeed failed transitions into parties. Focusing on the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia following the Arab Spring, the paper studies newly established political parties with roots in SM activism, including Islamists and those on the secular spectrum. The aim is to observe whether and to what degree SMs develop formal boundaries which mark their institutionalization into independent parties. Although Goldstone pointed out that the differentiation between SMs and political parties is in any case ‘fuzzy’, the paper argues that the formation of formal boundaries is in fact essential to the success of the democratic transition process. The failure of democratic transition in Egypt in July 2013, to which pro-democratic movements and new political parties contributed, demonstrates this fact. The Tunisian case shows a more comprehensive metamorphosis of SMs into political parties, thus enabling a relatively structured process of transition. Tags: Social Movement Theory; social movements; political parties; democratic transition; authoritarianism; Arab Spring; Middle East; Egypt; Tunisia

    Metadata

    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
    Depositing User: Barbara Zollner
    Date Deposited: 24 May 2016 10:52
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:23
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/15014

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    770Downloads
    6 month trend
    277Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item Edit/View Item