Between the battleground and the ballot box: armed political parties in the Middle East

Why do rebels enter formal politics whilst at the same time seeking to preserve their informal military force? Scholars tend to see armed political parties as either a transient phenomenon when states transition from war to peace or, conversely, as a failure of the peace process. Whilst some view armed political parties as signalling a move towards democratisation, others consider them as examples of the failure of the post-war democratisation. Based on rebels’ political participation in the Middle East, this chapter puts forward an alternative explanation. It argues that rebel groups enter formal politics when the threat to their informal role increases. They enter politics to secure their autonomy from it.Middle Eastern Studie