Political Regime and Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis of Muslim Countries

Abstract

This paper examines the interrelationship between regime type and development. It argues that proper resource utilization through investment in a stable environment constitutes the vital element of growth, which in turn, can be translated into materializing human development based on longevity, literacy and real purchasing power. Apart from the type of the regime, the ideological commitment also has a bearing on regime performance. A comparative study of six Muslim countries from three regions suggests that political stability in concomitant with dynamism, flexibility, and continuity of appropriate and effective policies play a vital role in regime performance. The most important observation is the role of a stable democratic regime in ensuring a sustainable development based on a balance between economic and political democracy. It appears that an authoritarian regime can survive only with faster rate of growth while a regime with reasonable degree of economic and political democracy can survive even with a moderately lower but sustainable rate of growth.