The Middle East in Transition


Book Description

The violent transitions that have dominated developments since the Arab Uprisings demonstrate deep-seated divisions in the conceptions of state authority and citizen rights and responsibilities. Analysing the Middle East through the lens of the ‘citizenship approach’, this book argues that the current diversity of crisis in the region can be ascribed primarily to the crisis in the relations between state and citizen. The volume includes theoretical discussions and case studies, and covers both Arab and non-Arab countries.




Securing Peace in the Middle East


Book Description

Based on the joint efforts of Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians, in conjunction with economists from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this book describes a cohesive plan for an integrated Middle East economy. It specifies actions and studies in areas where there are pressing and important issues, and where rapid progress is possible. Specifically, the plan assumes Palestinian economic sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza. It calls for a market-driven economy and free trade among the three economies, and regional projects to further develop shared interests. Additional recommendations call for the Palestinians to take over the existing Civil Administration in the West Bank and Gaza, expansion of the financial sector, and removal of the restrictions on Palestinian employment in Israel to allow as many as 100,000 Palestinians to work there.




Democratic Transition in the Middle East


Book Description

Popular uprisings and revolts across the Arab Middle East have often resulted in a democratic faragh or void in power. How society seeks to fill that void, regardless of whether the regime falls or survives, is the common trajectory followed by the seven empirical case studies published here for the first time. This edited volume seeks to unpack the state of the democratic void in three interrelated fields: democracy, legitimacy and social relations. In doing so, the conventional treatment of democratization as a linear, formal, systemic and systematic process is challenged and the power politics of democratic transition reassessed. Through a close examination of case studies focusing on Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, this collection introduces the reader to indigenous narratives on how power is wrested and negotiated from the bottom up. It will be of interest to those seeking a fresh perspective on democratization models as well as those seeking to understand the reshaping of the Arab Middle East in the lead-up to the Arab Spring.




Saudi Arabia in Transition


Book Description

Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, and it is the United States' closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, dominated by young people, is restive. Saudi Arabia has long remained closed to foreign scholars, with a select few academics allowed into the kingdom over the past decade. This book presents the fruits of their research as well as those of the most prominent Saudi academics in the field. This volume focuses on different sectors of Saudi society and examines how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. It reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.




The Middle East in Transition


Book Description

This collection of essays, first published in 1958, presents analyses by some 34 specialists on key political and social trends in the Middle East. They take the reader through the history of the Middle East to help reveal the background behind the changes that took place in the middle of the twentieth century – a time of fundamental political, economic and social change in the region.




Public Sector Reform in the Middle East and North Africa


Book Description

Critical examinations of efforts to make governments more efficient and responsive Political upheavals and civil wars in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have obscured efforts by many countries in the region to reform their public sectors. Unwieldy, unresponsive—and often corrupt—governments across the region have faced new pressure, not least from their publics, to improve the quality of public services and open up their decisionmaking processes. Some of these reform efforts were under way and at least partly successful before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010. Reform efforts have continued in some countries despite the many upheavals since then. This book offers a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of reform efforts in nine countries. In six cases the reforms targeted core systems of government: Jordan's restructuring of cabinet operations, the Palestinian Authority's revision of public financial management, Morocco's voluntary retirement program, human resource management reforms in Lebanon, an e-governance initiative in Dubai, and attempts to improve transparency in Tunisia. Five other reform efforts tackled line departments of government, among them Egypt's attempt to improve tax collection and Saudi Arabia's work to improve service delivery and bill collection. Some of these reform efforts were more successful than others. This book examines both the good and the bad, looking not only at what each reform accomplished but at how it was implemented. The result is a series of useful lessons on how public sector reforms can be adopted in MENA.




Urban Violence in the Middle East


Book Description

Covering a period from the late eighteenth century to today, this volume explores the phenomenon of urban violence in order to unveil general developments and historical specificities in a variety of Middle Eastern contexts. By situating incidents in particular processes and conflicts, the case studies seek to counter notions of a violent Middle East in order to foster a new understanding of violence beyond that of a meaningless and destructive social and political act. Contributions explore processes sparked by the transition from empires — Ottoman and Qajar, but also European — to the formation of nation states, and the resulting changes in cityscapes throughout the region.




Democratic Transition in the Muslim World


Book Description

Contributors to this book are particularly interested in expanding our understanding of what helps, or hurts, successful democratic transition attempts in countries with large Muslim populations. Crafting pro-democratic coalitions among secularists and Islamists presents a special obstacle that must be addressed by theorists and practitioners. The argument throughout the book is that such coalitions will not happen if potentially democratic secularists are part of what Al Stepan terms the authoritarian regime's "constituency of coercion" because they (the secularists) are afraid that free elections will be won by Islamists who threaten them even more than the existing secular authoritarian regime. Tunisia allows us to do analysis on this topic by comparing two "least similar" recent case outcomes: democratic success in Tunisia and democratic failure in Egypt. Tunisia also allows us to do an analysis of four "most similar" case outcomes by comparing the successful democratic transitions in Tunisia, Indonesia, Senegal, and the country with the second or third largest Muslim population in the world, India. Did these countries face some common challenges concerning democratization? Did all four of these successful cases in fact use some common policies that while democratic, had not normally been used in transitions in countries without significant numbers of Muslims? If so, did these policies help the transitions in Tunisia, Indonesia, Senegal and India? If they did, we should incorporate them in some way into our comparative theories about successful democratic transitions.




Saudi Arabia and Yemen


Book Description

Examines the culture, politics, economy, geography, and history of both Saudi Arabia and Yemen.




Why Yemen Matters


Book Description

In November 2011, an agreement brokered by the GCC brought an end to Yemen's tumultuous uprising. The National Dialogue Conference has opened a window of opportunity for change, bringing Yemen's main political forces together with groups that were politically marginalized. Yet, the risk of collapse is serious, and if Yemen is to remain a viable state, it must address numerous political, social and economic challenges. In this invaluable volume, experts with extensive Yemen experience provide innovative analysis of the country's major crises: centralized governance, the role of the military, ethnic conflict, separatism, Islamism, foreign intervention, water scarcity and economic development. This is essential reading for academi, journalists, development workers, diplomats, politicians and students alike. 'Essential reading ... The authors shed light on the context of the Yemeni uprising in a way that not only helps us understand the current transitional period but also the outlines of Yemen's future.' -- Charles Schmitz, President of the American Institute of Yemeni Studies 'An up to date and wide-ranging guide to what is arguably the Arab world's least known and most misunderstood state. Edited by one of Britain's foremost authorities on Yemen ... brings together an impressive range of experts on the country to examine the contemporary reality of Yemen.' -- Michael Willis, Director of the Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford University 'Thoughtful and well-researched, Why Yemen Matters unearths a wealth of information about contemporary Yemeni society.' -- Baghat Korany, Professor of International Relations, American University in Cairo