Scholarlink

This interview explores the contemporary ‘crisis of democracy’ with Larbi Sadiki, leading scholar of democracy and democratisation in the MENA region. It situates the region’s autocratic trends within broader global developments, overcoming Eurocentric dichotomies that often juxtapose a democratic West to an autocratic Rest. It does so by exposing contemporary democratic fatigue as a continuum between centre and periphery, politics and economy, and by historicising and contextualising the involvement of Western states and institutions in the MENA region along postcolonial lines. This contextualisation exposes their periodic abuse of democratic discourse as a rhetorical device and their prioritisation of strategic interests often at the expense of democracy itself. Larbi Sadiki’s insights encourage reflection on the nature and meaning of democracy on both shores of the Mediterranean while also reminding us of the potential role of knowledge producers in challenging the status quo.

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

‘The Western World Cannot Be the Sole Arbiter of What Democracy Is or How It Is Modelled and Engendered’. Interview with Larbi Sadiki

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

查看全文
  • Debora Del Piano

摘要

This interview explores the contemporary ‘crisis of democracy’ with Larbi Sadiki, leading scholar of democracy and democratisation in the MENA region. It situates the region’s autocratic trends within broader global developments, overcoming Eurocentric dichotomies that often juxtapose a democratic West to an autocratic Rest. It does so by exposing contemporary democratic fatigue as a continuum between centre and periphery, politics and economy, and by historicising and contextualising the involvement of Western states and institutions in the MENA region along postcolonial lines. This contextualisation exposes their periodic abuse of democratic discourse as a rhetorical device and their prioritisation of strategic interests often at the expense of democracy itself. Larbi Sadiki’s insights encourage reflection on the nature and meaning of democracy on both shores of the Mediterranean while also reminding us of the potential role of knowledge producers in challenging the status quo.