The rise and fall of Arab presidents for life / Roger Owen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Owen, Roger, 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Authoritarianism--Arab countries.

Authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism--Middle East.

Monarchy--Arab countries.

Monarchy.

Monarchy--Middle East.

Presidents--Arab countries--History.

Presidents.

Presidents--Middle East--History.

Arab countries--Kings and rulers.

Arab countries.

Arab countries--Politics and government--1945-.

Middle East--Kings and rulers.

Middle East.

Middle East--Politics and government--1945-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Edition:

First edition

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The monarchical presidential regimes that prevailed in the Arab world for so long looked as though they would last indefinitely—until events in Tunisia and Egypt made clear their time was up. The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life exposes for the first time the origins and dynamics of a governmental system that largely defined the Arab Middle East in the twentieth century. Presidents who rule for life have been a feature of the Arab world since independence. In the 1980's their regimes increasingly resembled monarchies as presidents took up residence in palaces and made every effort to ensure their sons would succeed them. Roger Owen explores the main features of the prototypical Arab monarchical regime: its household; its inner circle of corrupt cronies; and its attempts to create a popular legitimacy based on economic success, a manipulated constitution, managed elections, and information suppression. Why has the Arab world suffered such a concentration of permanent presidential government? Though post-Soviet Central Asia has also known monarchical presidencies, Owen argues that a significant reason is the “Arab demonstration effect,” whereby close ties across the Arab world have enabled ruling families to share management strategies and assistance. But this effect also explains why these presidencies all came under the same pressure to reform or go. Owen discusses the huge popular opposition the presidential systems engendered during the Arab Spring, and the political change that ensued, while also delineating the challenges the Arab revolutions face across the Middle East and North Africa.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. The Search for Sovereignty in an Insecure World

2. The Origins of the Presidential Security State

3. Basic Components of the Regimes

4. Centralized State Systems in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Algeria

5. Presidents as Managers in Libya, Sudan, and Yemen

6. Constrained Presidencies in Lebanon and Iraq after Hussein

7. The Monarchical Security States of Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, and Oman

8. The Politics of Succession

9. The Question of Arab Exceptionalism

10. The Sudden Fall

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p.203-226) and index.

ISBN:

0-674-06541-7

0-674-06981-1

OCLC:

794004244