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Crisis of democracy for Islamic parties

While Islamic parties in the Middle East have been keen to use democracy as a way to reach power and maintain their authority, they do not apply democratic principles when it comes to other aspects of governance.
Islamists, members of the brotherhood, and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shout slogans during a protest around the Raba El-Adwyia mosque square in the suburb of Nasr City, Cairo, June 28, 2013. Egypt's leading religious authority warned of "civil war" on Friday and called for calm after a member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was killed ahead of mass rallies aimed at forcing the president to quit. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX114YI

In recent years, the Middle East has witnessed several examples of religious parties coming to power. These parties have usually encountered problems when it comes to dealing with a democratic system of governance. This has led to the fall of some — such as in Egypt — or to major challenges in terms of democratic values, ​​such as human rights and public freedoms. Why are religious parties unable to deal with democracy? Is it the lack of necessary experience in governance, or are there other fundamental issues —linked to the intellectual and ideological structure of the religious parties — behind the problem?

Historically, Middle Eastern societies have been confronted with democratic systems of governance in a sudden manner. This has resulted in a great shock within these societies, particularly among intellectuals. In contrast, democracy came to the West gradually, through centuries of cognitive theories developed by thinkers of the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment eras, and accumulated human experiments. Moreover, some aspects of a democratic system have been present in European societies since the Middle Ages. The most important of these aspects — when making a comparison with the Middle East — is the relative separation between the political and religious authorities within various systems of governance in Europe.

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