Based on Huntington’s theory of transition to democracy, it is expected to witness occurrence of democratic systems following the emergence of a new middle class. The main purpose of the present study is to analyze the role of the new middle class in the transition to democracy and review the reasons for not-materialization of the process of transition to democracy in Egypt and Bahrain, in spite of the rise of the new middle class in these countries.
By using Huntington’s theoretical framework, adopting a comparative method, and collecting information from ratified scientific resources and secondary data, this research comparatively analyzed the process of democratization in Egypt and Bahrain.
Findings of this article indicates that representations of the new middle class, such as the growth of per capita income, higher education, bureaucracy, and communication development indexes, as well as changes in social values, have been increased. However, the process of transition to democracy, in its different types of deformation, displacement, and disintegration, has encountered with serious obstacles in both countries.
Following the victory of the Egyptian revolution in February 2011, the firstphase of transition to democracy is successfully achieved by the collapse of Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime. But, after the coup de ta against President Mohamed Morsi, the pseudo-authoritarianism of the Mubarak era was reproduced by military intervention on 3 July 2013, and the negative role played by external power. Also, entering to the second phase of "strengthening democratic institutions" has been aborted. Similarly, the process of democratization in Bahrain has been stopped in its first phase, that is, the overthrow of dictatorship rule, because of cultural barriers, the rentier nature of the state, and patron-client relationship existed between state and the new middle class.AlsoIn both countries, foreign agents have acted to reinforce authoritarianism.
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