Algeria, Iran, Turkey [Ressource électronique] : a model of secular versus religious nationalism / John M. Lynch

Master of science : International relations : Troy University : 1998

Bibliogr. p. 141-156

The primary subject matter concerned in this thesis is the ongoing political violence in Algeria, which has left tens of thousands dead in the past decade. This thesis focuses on the ongoing battle in developing nations between secular nationalists and religious nationalists described by Mark Juergensmeyer in his book The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State. Since democratic reforms made in 1988-1991, Algeria has been plagued by violence little reported in the Western media. When it is reported, Islamic radicals are the forces blamed as the source of these problems. Armed groups have resorted to especially grisly tactics to bring about their political desires, including bombings, assassination of public figures, journalists and foreigners. Atrocities are pervasive against the Algerian civilian population as well including rape, mutilation and burning villages. The record of the Algerian armed forces in combating these armed groups is no better. Comparative analysis is the primary methodology used in this study, which considers political violence in the cases of Algeria, Iran and Turkey I terms of Brinton's Fever Curve of Revolution and Gurr's relative deprivation theory of political violence. The question to be answered is: will Algeria follow the secular nationalist model provided by Turkey or conform to the Iranian model of religious nationalism? The analysis tries to ascertain the root of these problems in an attempt to model this type of revolution in order to predict its outcome. The analysis using Brinton's model considers only the first, or preparatory phase of revolution, since Algeria has not advanced beyond this point. Relative deprivation is measured in terms of political, economic, social and cultural factors. The results of this study lead the author to conclude that Algeria will most likely fall closer to the Turkish model of secular nationalism than to the Iranian model of religious nationalism, though structural changes could lead to that end state.