EXPLORING THE RELATION BETWEEN GENDER POLITICS AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN THE MAGHREB: ANALYTICAL AND EMPIRICAL OBSERVATIONS By Amel Mili A dissertation proposal submitted to the Graduate School–Newark Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Global Affairs Written under the direction of Professor Jyl Josephson And approved by Newark, New Jersey May 2009 Exploring The Relation Between Gender Politics and Representative Government in the Maghreb: Analytical and Empirical Observations By Amel Mili Thesis director: Professor Jyl Josephson This thesis uses analytical and empirical methods to explore the relation between gender standards and democratic standards in the Maghreb, which includes Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. The analytical approach consists of considering theories that link gender standards and democratic standards, and analyzing whether and to what extent such theories would apply or not apply to the Maghreb. The empirical approach consists of taking measurements that reflect gender standards and democratic standards across the three countries and four different milestones of their recent history (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000), and applying statistical methods to compute correlations and regressions. Because the empirical approach yields no significant correlation between gender standards and democratic standards in the Maghreb, I analyze this statistical correlation for other sets of countries that are part of Maghrebian identity: Arab countries, Muslim countries, African countries, and Mediterranean countries. The combined results of these analyses give us some insight into possible explanations of the empirical observations. ii This modest work is humbly dedicated to My Mother , and to the Memory of My Father , Also dedicated to Noor , for her inexhaustible imagination and to Farah and Serena whose version of the Fairy Tale ends when Cinderella kisses the prince goodbye and goes for her PhD iii Acknowledgement I am profoundly indebted to Professor Jyl Josephson, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University and Director of Women's Studies Program, for graciously agreeing to supervise my work, and for her guidance and support. Professor Josephson's availability, patience, dependability and responsiveness have been a great resource for me as I was conducting my research and writing my thesis. I am also very grateful to • Professor Rose Dios, Associate Professor of Mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, • Professor Kurt Schock, Associate Professor of Sociology and Member of the Graduate Faculty in Global Affairs at Rutgers Newark, and • Professor Mary C Segers, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University at Newark, • Professor Guiling Wang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, for agreeing to serve on my committee, and for their gracious guidance and encouragement. Finally I wanted to acknowledge the patience and support of my family while I was busy with my doctoral research. Amel Mili Rutgers University iv Table of Contents Introduction and Motivation ............................................................................................... 1 1. Purpose of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 1 2. Motivation................................................................................................................... 1 3. Literature Review....................................................................................................... 3 3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 10 Part I: Background ........................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1........................................................................................................................... 14 Dimensions of Gender Equality........................................................................................ 14 1.1 Founding Discourses............................................................................................... 15 1.1.1 The nationalist/feminist encounter: “Reevaluating differences....................... 15 1.1.2. The Nationalist Modernist Discourse ............................................................. 16 1.1.3 The nationalist conservative discourse ......................................................... 19 1.2. Feminist Groups.................................................................................................... 21 1.2.1 Feminist groups that formed under colonial rule............................................ 22 1................................................................................................................................. 24 2.2 Feminist groups that formed at The Independance............................................ 24 1.2.3. The Rise of an Autonomous Feminist Movement ......................................... 27 1.3 Maghrebine Feminism in the Era of Globalization................................................ 32 1.3.1. The “Glocalization” of Gender Roles: Feminism and Islamism ................... 35 1.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 37 Chapter 2........................................................................................................................... 39 Representative Government.............................................................................................. 39 2.1 The Democratic Debate in The Arab World......................................................... 39 2.2 The Separation of State and Religion .................................................................... 40 2.2.1 The Islamic Discourse..................................................................................... 40 2..................................................................................................................................... 41 2.2 Islamic Political Institutions .................................................................................. 41 2.3 The Secular Discourse: Separating the human and the Divine............................ 43 2.3.1........................................................................................................................... 43 The State: A Human Institution................................................................................ 43 2.3.2 Sharia Law: A Human Creation...................................................................... 44 2.3.3 The Caliphate: State as the Embodiement of the Islamic Order.................... 45 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 52 Chapter 3........................................................................................................................... 54 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................... 54 3.1. Analytical and Empirical Research........................................................................ 54 3.2 Quantifying Relevant Parameters .......................................................................... 58 3.2.1 Quantifying Parameters Pertaining to Democratic Standards ......................... 58 3.3 Collecting Factual Data.......................................................................................... 63 3.4 Statistical Analysis.................................................................................................. 64 3.4.1 From Democratic Standards to Gender Standards........................................... 65 3.4.2 From Gender Standards to Democratic Standards........................................... 67 v 3.4.3 Validation......................................................................................................... 67 Part II: ............................................................................................................................... 69 Historical/ Cultural Background of the Maghreb ............................................................. 69 Chapter 4........................................................................................................................... 70 A Common History........................................................................................................... 70 4.2 History as Identity.................................................................................................. 70 4.2 Introduction to Maghrebian History ...................................................................... 72 4.3. Pre Islamic Period................................................................................................. 74 4.4. The Advent of Islam ............................................................................................. 76 4.4.1. The Aghlabids and Fatimids (797-1057) ....................................................... 77 4.4.2. Almohad and Almoravid Dynasties (1050-1230)......................................... 78 4.4.3. The Hafsids (1230-1574) ............................................................................... 78 4.5. The Inquisition/