Islamism, Arab Spring, and the Future of Democracy

This book provides an in-depth analysis of public opinion patterns among Muslims, particularly in the Arab world. On the basis of data from the World Values Survey, the Arab Barometer Project and the Arab Opinion Index, the author compares the dynamics of Muslim opinion structures with global publics and arrives at social scientific predictions of value change in the region. Using country factor scores from a variety of surveys, the author also develops composite indices of support for democracy and a liberal society on a global level and in the Muslim world, and analyzes a multivariate model of opinion structures in the Arab world, based on over 40 variables from 12 countries in the Arab League and covering 67% of the total population of the Arab countries. While being optimistic about the general, long-term trend towards democracy and the resilience of Arab and Muslim civil society against Islamism, the author also highlights anti-semitic trends in the region and discusses them in the larger context of xenophobia in traditional societies.