Institute of Political Science

Publications

11/10/2022

Research article from Koray Saglam: "The digital blender: conceptualizing the political economic nexus of digital technologies and authoritarian practices"

Published in the Special Issue of Globalizations "Authoritarian Power and Contestation beyond the State".

This article develops the concept of the digital blender to comprehensively address the extent to which digital technologies further authoritarian practices and power beyond the state. By focusing on the primarily commercial nature of digital technologies, and their reciprocal transformational political economic embeddedness, the digital blender allows to highlight the role of private companies in enabling practices that are detrimental to democratic values and processes, irrespective of the formal regime-type context of a given polity, and less confined by national borders. While previous discussions primarily focus on digital technologies as mere tools at the discretion of their master, this relational perspective allows for the incorporation of transnational non-state actors and dynamics in constituting and contesting manifestations of authoritarian power beyond the state. These dynamics will be illustrated and discussed in light of insights into recent incidents involving companies such as Cambridge Analytica, Meta Platforms Inc., and the NSO Group.

Access to the full article: The digital blender: conceptualizing the political economic nexus of digital technologies and authoritarian practices


Discussion paper from Oliver Schlumberger: Puzzels of Political Change in the Middle East: Political Liberalisation, Authoritarian Resilience and the Question of Systemic Change 

One decade after the Arab uprisings of 2010/11, the present discussion paper revisits processes of political change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with a focus on the question of systemic change. Core questions in this context are: How, among all possible varieties of political change, do we know when political change is systemic? When do we speak of “democratisation”, and when of “authoritarian upgrading” or “- re-consolidation”? Can we predict such processes? If not, can we at least tell when systemic transition is more or less likely to occur, and what influences its occurrence? The three parts of the discussion paper build on one another in order to address and answer these puzzles.

Schlumberger, Oliver
Discussion Paper 5/2021

Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)


October 2020
Framing the Pandemic and the Rise of the Digital Surveillance State
Ahmed Maati, Žilvinas Švedkauskas in: Czech Journal of International Relations Vol 55 No 4 (2020): The Coronavirus and the Future of Liberalism

The pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus has provided a pretext for many countries of the world to extend executive powers, and their digital surveillance capacities in particular. Aiming to identify how different regimes frame digital surveillance, this paper employs qualitative content analysis to compare the government framing of digital surveillance in India, Israel and Singapore. Although due to their different working dynamics, one would expect democracies and autocracies to frame digital surveillance in different ways, our findings reveal an overlap between liberal and illiberal rhetoric across the cases and point to unexplored illiberal peculiarities within the category of ‘democratic backsliders.’ We conclude by cautiously speculating how heightened extents of digital surveillance and tracking may become the new normal across regime types, and how governments might exploit and recycle these same frames to justify digital surveillance after the COVID-19 crisis is over.


18.01.2019

Contribution by Nadine Kreitmeyr on Neoliberal co-optation and authoritarian renewal: social entrepreneurship networks in Jordan and Morocco in Globalizations

"This paper analyzes social entrepreneurship networks (SENs) – composed of social entrepreneurs, business and political elites, and international actors –in Jordan and Morocco and how they foster processes of authoritarian renewal through neoliberal forms of co-optation. I argue that these new neoliberal networks and pre-existing patterns of social interaction complement each other, fostering linkages between well-established elites and hand-picked social entrepreneurs as well as societal groups. The two case studies illustrate different trajectories of the development of SENs and their embeddedness in the respective political, social and economic contexts. Importantly, such trajectories indicate a similar direction of travel: social entrepreneurship, rather than acting as a driver of progressive change, has been aligned with the authoritarian regimes and cements neoliberalism as a mode of governance. This mutation of neoliberal tactics towards more inclusionary and consensual patterns seeks to ensure the survival of both neoliberalism and of authoritarian governance. Thus, the article brings to light repertoires of authoritarian neoliberalism that have hitherto been under- studied. Moreover, it offers a critical perspective on social entrepreneurship as an increasingly popular phenomenon that, in academia and beyond, has all too often been approached from an uncritical and apolitical perspective."

Please find the full article here.


02.05.2013

Book published on Islamist and Jihadist actors in the partner countries of German development cooperation (in German).

This very pictorial documentation has been published as a result of a joint project between the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen and the Programme Office for Intercultural Relations with Muslim Countries at the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ). The documentation is primarily meant to shed light on suitable (or non-suitable) partners among those Islamist actors in the MENA region that seem to have gained significant influence for German development aid in the last years. Thus the documentation contains an overview over their different roles and stances within their respective political and societal contexts to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of these actors’ programs and political positions. A very diverse range of actors has been portrayed whose influence on international cooperation ranges from enhancing potential chances of effective and lasting cooperation to yielding important veto-power.

Schlumberger, Oliver ; Gatter, Peer ; Panissié, Danaë: Islamistische und jihadistische Akteure in den Partnerländern der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (in German) / [Ed.] Programmbüro Interkulturelle Beziehungen mit islamisch geprägten Ländern ; Institut für Politikwissenschaft <Tübingen>. - Eschborn : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2013. - 126 S. : Ill. 978-3-00-041118-2


15/11/2010

EMHRN publishes Report on Freedom of Association in the Euro-Mediterranean Region

On the occasion of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network’s Freedom of Association Working Group meeting, held in Beirut, Lebanon last October, the EMHRN launched its 4th Annual Report, entitled Freedom of Association in the Euro-Mediterranean Region: A Threatened Civil Society which assesses the situation of NGOs in the 11 countries of the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean region.

Since the publication of the first EMHRN Report in 2007, some countries have amended their laws on NGOs (Jordan) or have announced changes (Egypt, Syria), while others have recast their legislation in ways that have a direct impact on NGO activities (Israel, Tunisia). A close examination of recent developments in the Euro-Mediterranean region reveals that freedom of association has experienced setbacks in the past few years and there has been very little positive development worth mentioning.
Our Research Unit for Comparative and Middle East Politics at the Institute of Political Science at Tübingen University was commissioned as a contributor of one out of three thematic chapters to the current report.
For detailed information, see here. The complete report is accessible free of charge here.


Contribution by Nadine Kreitmeyr and Prof. Oliver Schlumberger to: "Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte" (ApuZ) 24/2010


In their article entitled "Autoritäre Herrschaft in der arabischen Welt [Authoritarian Rule in the Arab World]", Nadine Kreitmeyr and Oliver Schlumberger focus on possible explanations of the extraordinary stability of authoritarian rule in the Middle East. It gives a good overview of the new literature on authoritarian regimes and is available here.

You can find an English translation of parts of the article on the homepage of the Austrian-Arab Online Information Forum.


24/05/2013

Contribution by Oliver Schlumberger, Nadine Kreitmeyr and Torsten Matzke on the Persistence of Autocracies in the MENA region after the Arab Spring

The volume „Der Arabische Frühling. Hintergründe und Analysen" [The Arab Spring. Backgrounds and Analyses] deals with the emergence, development and perspectives of the Arab Spring. It features contributions by renowned experts which discuss the main aspects of the Arab Spring using a large number of country cases ranging from Morocco to the Persian Gulf.

In their cross-national article entitled „Arabische Revolten und politische Herrschaft: Wie überlebensfähig sind Autokratien im Vorderen Orient?" [Arab Revolts and Political Rule: How Viable are Autocracies in the Middle East and North Africa?], Oliver Schlumberger, Nadine Kreitmeyr and Torsten Matzke analyze why political rule in this region has remained autocratic over a much longer period than in any other world region. Furthermore, they ask how the Arab Spring could occur despite the assumed “stability” of autocratic rule. Closely connected to this is the question of the implications of the Arab Spring for the future of political rule in the region. In order to analyze the persistence of autocratic rule, the authors look at four different factors: economic factors, political structures, social structures as well as international and regional influences. They conclude that substantial changes within these factors during the years previous to the Arab Spring led to the toppling of several autocratic rulers. However, they also detect central factors for persistence that make a widespread democratization of the region seem unlikely in the near future.

 

Bibliographical information: Schlumberger, Oliver / Kreitmeyr, Nadine / Matzke, Torsten 2013: "Arabische Revolten und politische Herrschaft: Wie überlebensfähig sind Autokratien im Vorderen Orient?", in: Schneiders, Thorsten G. (ed.): Der Arabische Frühling. Hintergründe und Analysen, pp. 33-63.

 


02/04/2012

Oliver Schlumberger and Torsten Matzke contribute to a debate on the Arab Spring in the Swiss Political Science Review

In the first volume of the Swiss Politica Science Review in 2012 (18/1) our department has contributed to the current debate on the Arab Spring and to its evaluation from an academic perspective. The five-page article "Path toward Democracy? The Role of Economic Development" sheds light on the economic background of the Arab Spring and advocates the joint consideration of economic and political developments after the Arab Spring.

Please find the full article here.


02/02/2012

Article by Prof. Schlumberger in WeltTrends 82/2012

In his article under the title “The Arab Spring. The End of Authoritarian Regimes” (in German) the January/February issue (No. 82) of the journal WeltTrends, Prof. Schlumberger puts the recent events in the Arab region in the context of area research on authoritarianism and questions existing concepts.


22/07/2011

Article by Torsten Matzke on Egyptian Big Business in inamo

The spring edition of the journal inamo (issue No. 65) features an article by Torsten Matzke on “The Sudden Demise of Mubarak's Crony Capitalists. Egyptian Big Business and the Revolution” (in German). He therein explains the sudden downfall of those rich typo3/big businessmen who held high government and party positions before the revolution and were close to Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal. In contrast, through its ascent to power, the Egyptian military managed to safeguard its economic interests. It can therefore also be expected that Egypt’s future economic policies will be more state-centered in the future instead of supporting an urgently needed widespread, non-discriminatory promotion of the private sector.


15/11/2010

“The Ties that do not Bind: The Union for the Mediterranean and the Future of Euro-Arab Relations” Contribution by Prof. Schlumberger to: Mediterranean Politics, March 2011


What impact does the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) have on the future evolution of Euro-Arab relations? In his publication, Prof. Schlumberger first reflects on Arab reactions to the UfM, and subsequently analyzes what alterations the UfM brings to existing Euro-Arab relations in terms of actors, institutional arrangements, and policy contents. He concludes that the UfM can be considered a triple victory for authoritarian Arab rulers in re-shaping their relations with Europe, and casts serious doubts on the hypothesis of the EU acting as a norm entrepreneur.


Publications


17/03/2015

Article by Hürcan Aslı Aksoy on Islamist women's civil society organizations in Turkey in Politics and Gender

"The Islamist Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, henceforth AKP) came to power in 2002 with the promise of consolidating democracy and strengthening civil society to further Turkey's bid to join the European Union (EU). To this end, in its first term in the parliament (2002–2007), the AKP implemented a set of political reforms that lifted the restrictions on political and civil rights such as the freedom of assembly, associations, and expression and improved the rule of law (Kubicek 2005; Müftüler-Baç 2005). The AKP, as it has promised in its election campaigns, also engaged civil society into policy-making processes. In the initial years of the AKP, diverse civil society actors gathered on broad civil society platforms and worked with the AKP government to consolidate Turkish democracy (Keyman 2010; Kubicek 2005). Although the Islamist segments of civil society began to integrate into the secular political sphere and to voice their demands more freely, Islamist women's civil society organizations (CSOs) have not fully benefited from this transforming political atmosphere under the AKP."

Congratulations from your working unit for this publication!

Please find the article here.


13/03/2014

Article by Maria Josua and Mirjam Edel on repression in Terrorism and Political Violence

The article "To Repress or Not to Repress - Regime Survival Strategies in the Arab Spring" by Maria Josua und Mirjam Edel offers a model on repression in the course of the Arab Spring. The authors bring various quantitaive approaches from the repression and authoritarianism literature and test their hypotheses on cases including Bahrain and Egypt. They also develop a discrete definition of repression as regime strategy directed at specific adressees.

Please find the article here.

 

 

 


02/05/2013

Book published on Islamist and Jihadist actors in the partner countries of German development cooperation (in German).

This very pictorial documentation has been published as a result of a joint project between the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen and the Programme Office for Intercultural Relations with Muslim Countries at the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ). The documentation is primarily meant to shed light on suitable (or non-suitable) partners among those Islamist actors in the MENA region that seem to have gained significant influence for German development aid in the last years. Thus the documentation contains an overview over their different roles and stances within their respective political and societal contexts to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of these actors’ programs and political positions. A very diverse range of actors has been portrayed whose influence on international cooperation ranges from enhancing potential chances of effective and lasting cooperation to yielding important veto-power.

Schlumberger, Oliver ; Gatter, Peer ; Panissié, Danaë: Islamistische und jihadistische Akteure in den Partnerländern der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (in German) / [Ed.] Programmbüro Interkulturelle Beziehungen mit islamisch geprägten Ländern ; Institut für Politikwissenschaft <Tübingen>. - Eschborn : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2013. - 126 S. : Ill. 978-3-00-041118-2

Please find the full digital version of the book here PDF

 


Contribution by Prof. Schlumberger to: Middle East Critique 3-2010

In his article

"Opening Old Bottles in Search of New Wine: On Nondemocratic Legitimacy in the Middle East"

Prof. Schlumberger stresses the necessity of analyzing regime legitimacy in the countries of the Arab World, a topic which had been neglected for a long time. His contribution discusses four dimensions of studying (nondemocratic) legitimacy and then goes on to identify key components of legitimacy in the Arab Middle East.

Contribution by Maria Josua to "Bürger im Staat" 1-2010

In her article "Autoritäre Regime im Vorderen Orient: Herrschaftssicherung trotz Herrscherwechsel [Authoritarian Regimes in the Middle East and North Africa: Safeguarding Leadership Despite Changing Leaders]", Maria Josua examines the strategies employed by Middle Eastern authoritarian regimes in order to maintain stability after succession. It is available here for free.

Special Issue of Contemporary Politics (16:1)

Promoting Democracy - Promoting Autocracy? International Politics and National Political Regimes

Together with Prof. Dr. Peter Burnell (Warwick University, UK), Oliver Schlumberger has guest-edited a special issue for the international refereed journal Contemporary Politics which has been published in March 2010. This work goes back to two pre-organized panels at the World International Studies Conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2008 and includes the majority of the presentations given there, but also includes a number of additional articles.

The Contents

The special issue is entitled "Promoting Democracy-Promoting Autocracy? International Politics and National Political Regimes" and comes timely as political scientists are beginning to realize that instead of a unilinear trend towards global democracy, autocratic political rule is not some near-extinct dinosaur. This triggers new questions for research:

Has the last tide of democratization been replaced by a new wave of democratic reversal? Do two decades of international democracy promotion now have to compete with the promotion of authoritarian rule by powers that have resisted democratization internally? Are there more pressing grounds than ever to investigate international political influences on the prospects not just for transition to and consolidation of democracy but the persistence, resurgence and spread of more authoritarian regimes?

These are among the big issues raised in this special issue. It does not pretend to provide definitive responses, but rather makes a start over how to look for some answers. The Introduction spells out an agenda that should take a central place in future research into the influence of international politics on national political regimes. It gives a window onto how the multinational contributions in this issue add to our knowledge and takes that agenda further forwards.

The Contributors

Apart from the editors' substantial introductory article, other contributors include:

The Editors

Peter Burnell is one of Europe's most eminent political scientists. He has authored and edited many books and articles and is the founding joint editor of the international refereed journal Democratization which is today established as one of the leading journals in the field, and the accompanying book series Democratisation Studies, published by Routledge. He also is an invited member of the founding Executive Committee of the journal Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. After having loosely cooperated for many years, the forthcoming special issue highlights Peter's and Oliver's joint desire to push forward the frontiers of what we know about the reasons for the emergence and decay of democracies and autocracies around the world.


Contribution by Prof. Oliver Schlumberger to Eberhard Kienle 2009 (ed.): Democracy Building – Democracy Erosion


Prof. Oliver Schlumberger contributed to Eberhard Kienle’s volume "Democracy Building and Democracy Erosion - Political Change North and South of the Mediterranean" with the article “Assessing Political Regimes: What Measurements and Typologies Tell Us – And What They Don’t”. The article focuses on conceptual problems in measuring and assessing democracy.