ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief and concise assessment of theoretic frameworks and their analytical deficiency of Arab democratization, and demonstrates limitations of what has become known as the Arab 'exceptionalism' argument. Competing theories emerged in the academic sphere to conceptualize patterns of democratization and compare various paths and processes of democratic transition. The editors of Democratization distinguish between three major approaches: the modernization approach, the transition approach, and the structural approach. The chapter highlights the role of external powers in helping or hindering transition to democracy in the Arab world. The high level of economic development achieved in modern societies brings with it a high level of education and spreads out a particular culture that favours democratic values such as tolerance, moderation, pluralism, diversity and rationality. The debate over culture and democracy in the Arab world generated a large amount of literature and contributed to the development of competing discourses on Arab democratization.
