Seeking Legitimacy: Why Arab Autocracies Adopt Women's Rights

Aili Mari Tripp's study challenges the idea that religiosity is the primary factor explaining the adoption of women's rights in Muslim-majority countries. It shows how authoritarian regimes in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria have embraced legal reforms to advance their political goals and sideline religious extremists. Women's rights movements have capitalized on moments of political turmoil to defend and advance their cause.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 334 pages
Publication date: 08 August 2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Aili Mari Tripp delves into the intriguing phenomenon of autocratic leaders in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria pursuing more extensive legal reforms for women's rights compared to their Middle Eastern counterparts. This study challenges the prevailing narratives that attribute the adoption of women's rights solely to religiosity. Through extensive fieldwork in these countries and an original database of gender-based reforms in the Middle East and North Africa, Tripp conducts a comprehensive analysis of how women's rights are strategically employed both instrumentally and symbolically by authoritarian regimes to advance their political objectives. This accessible study sheds light on how women's rights are leveraged as a means to sideline religious extremists and consolidate power. It demonstrates how Islamist political parties have been compelled to undergo significant shifts in their stances on women's rights to ensure their political survival.

Furthermore, Tripp offers an original contribution to the study of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa by unveiling how women's rights movements have capitalized on moments of political turmoil to defend and advance their cause. By examining the interplay between authoritarian regimes, women's rights advocates, and religious extremists, Tripp provides a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics shaping women's rights in the region.

Weight: 488g
Dimension: 211 x 228 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108442848