이슬람과 정치발전: 아랍 22국에 대한 사례연구

Islam and Political Development: A Case of Study of 22 Arab Countries

&nbsp;&nbsp;Many scholars in the study of political development and democratization have claimed that the political under-development in Muslim countries is due to Islam&quot;s incompatibility with democracy. It is also generally accepted that there is a positive association between economic development and democracy whether in Western advanced democracies or in predominantly Muslim societies. And leading scholars in the field have asserted that there is a positive linear relationship between the two.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;This study attempts to challenge this thesis, reviewing current studies and examining determinants of political regime in Muslim countries basing upon the study of M. Steven Fish. And then I examine the relationship between economic development and democracy in 22 Arab-Muslim countries. I classify the 22 Arab countries into four groups according to their level of economic development (GDP per capita) and compare the variable with their Freedom House scores which are evaluated according to the extent of political liberties and civil rights, and the Polity scores by the Marshall and Jaggers&quot; Polity Project.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Contrary to the widely accepted theory of a positive linear relationship between economic development and democracy, I found that there is a negative relationship between the two in the 22 Arab countries: higher economic development is associated to worse Freedom House scores and Polity scores. Economically richer countries have worse FH and Polity scores.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;I also investigated the orientations of the Arab-Muslims toward political developments in the Levantine states (Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine), Kuwait and Iraq, basing upon the research surveys and opinion polls by the 21th century Middle Eastern and Islamic civilization project, sponsored by the Korea Research Foundation, a Kuwaiti scholar (Antoun Rahma) and Gallop Organization. I found that there is a strong aspiration for democracy in the Arab-Muslim countries. A clear majority of the Arab-Muslims want their parliamentary system to be more developed and their political rights and civil liberty to be strengthened and widened. However they preferred the union of religion and state to the separation, and supported an Islamic political system to the Western secular one.