Introduction: On the Relevance of Arab Parliaments

This introduction leads into the Special Issue “Parliaments in the Middle East and North Africa: A Struggle for Relevance.” Parliaments in the Arab world have hardly been considered to be relevant institutions during the decades of authoritarianism in the post-independence era. If at all, they were of importance as a strategic element in the power-saving strategies of regimes. The “Arab Spring” ten years ago, with its loud calls for a more democratic and socially just political sphere, opened a new window of potentiality for the legislative chambers in the countries concerned, yet to very different avail: while the “Assemblée des Représentants du Peuple” in Tunisia gained unprecedented relevance as constitution-maker and governmental watchdog, the Egyptian Majlis al-Shaʿb was dissolved in 2012 after Islamists sweepingly won the elections and were reinstated only after the old forces had resecured their stark grip on power. Here, parliament has hardly gained any new relevance. This introduction outlines the core structure of the Special Issue which takes stock of parliaments in the Arab world a decade after the 2011 uprisings, discusses the state of research, and develops its guiding theoretic framework.