Abstract
The study employs individual- level data on more than 6000 individuals from three countries in the MENA region to investigate the extent to which an individual's own perception about the importance of giving scientific and technological development in the near future impact their perceptions of the effectiveness of democracy and it reduces the desire for a rouge leader. We find a positive and strong relation between the perceptions regarding the importance of scientific and technological development, and the perceptions regarding the effectiveness of democracy in the whole region. The evidence of such relationship is much stronger in low democratic countries like Egypt, and Morocco than in a higher democratic country like Turkey. People's beliefs about the effectiveness of democracy as a system of governance are also shaped by more income equality, economic prosperity, and the level and satisfaction with household income especially in countries with low levels of democracy. The results suggest that there should be more emphasis on scientific and technological development in the near future in order to have _effective democracy in the low democratic countries in the region.