Opposition Learning as Capitulation: Leftist Parties’ Trajectories in the Middle East and North Africa
21 May 2026. From 18:30 | Conference | English | IEMed
The ‘opposition learning’ of leftist parties, specifically Marxist-Leninist, in the Arab world, their adaptive and survival strategies have been overlooked in the academic literature. The history of such parties illustrates what and how they have learned from their interactions with authoritarian regimes and from their relationship with other political forces. Marxist-Leninist parties underwent a deep, profound adaptation that we label ‘capitulation,’ both at the ideological and organizational level. It occurred via two key mechanisms. First, “external diffusion,’ whereby they sought to accommodate the progressive decline and eventual collapse of world Communism as an international project after 1989-91. Second, “isomorphism”, as they adapted to the extenuating circumstances (marginalization, repression, cooptation) under which they operated in the context of authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes. Leftist formations suffered from the loss of an external referent which supplied ideological and organizational coordinates as well as logistical and financial support; yet they managed to survive as political actors, albeit marginal. This suggests that an authoritarian context, no matter how restrictive or repressive, has limits in its reach against opposition actors if external referents are sufficiently powerful and attractive.
A lecture by Francesco Cavatorta, a full professor in the Department of Political Science at Université Laval in Quebec. He previously held positions at the University College Dublin and at City University Dublin. Recently, he was a Visiting Fellow at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. He has been the Principal Investigator in a recent Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project on the values and attitudes of members of Islamist parties in Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. His current research projects focus on party politics and government coalitions in the Middle East and North Africa and opposition politics across different political regimes. Author of numerous publications, in 2024 he published the co-edited volume (with Alex Baturo and Luca Anceschi) Personalism and Personalist Regimes (Oxford University Press)
Moderated by Dúnia Camps-Febrer, Lecturer in International Relations, UAB. Co-organised with the Master in International Relations, Security and Development, UAB
Speakers
Francesco Cavatorta
Professor in the Department of Political Science Université Laval in Quebec.
Dúnia Camps-Febrer
Lecturer in International Relations UABOrganised by
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