Democratic values and the microfoundations of Arab support for peace with Israel

Abstract

The Arab Spring and the short-lived political ascendancy of Islamist movements reignited the debate about what greater popular participation in foreign policy decision-making would entail for the prospects of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Building on the developing body of individual-level investigations into the Democratic Peace thesis and contributing to the wider debate about the relationship between peace and democracy in the Middle East, this paper utilizes 2010–2011 Arab Barometer data to establish the determinants of public support for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict across the Arab world. The results reveal that emancipative political values such as support for gender equality and secularism help predict greater support for peace with Israel. These findings demonstrate that contrary to the claims of skeptics, democratization and peace can reinforce each other in the Arab world.