Making sense of the Arab State / Steven Heydemann and Marc Lynch, editors.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heydemann, Steven.

Contributor:

Lynch, Marc.

Series:

Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies series.

Emerging democracies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political culture--Middle East.

Political culture.

State, The--Social aspects--Middle East.

State, The.

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

Middle East.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (309 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2024.

Summary:

No region in the world has been more hostile to democracy, more dominated by military and security institutions, or weaker on economic development and inclusive governance than the Middle East. Why have Arab states been so oppressively strong in some areas but so devastatingly weak in others? How do those patterns affect politics, economics, and society across the region? The state stands at the center of the analysis of politics in the Middle East, but has rarely been the primary focus of systematic theoretical analysis. Making Sense of the Arab State brings together top scholars from diverse theoretical orientations to address some of the most critically important questions facing the region today. The authors grapple with enduring questions such as the uneven development of state capacity, the failures of developmentalism and governance, the centrality of regime security and survival concerns, the excesses of surveillance and control, and the increasing personalization of power. Making Sense of the Arab State will be a must-read for scholars of the Middle East and of comparative politics more broadly.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Making Sense of the Arab State | Steven Heydemann and Marc Lynch

Section 1: Dimensions of Stateness

One. Seeing the State or Why Arab States Look the Way They Do | Steven Heydemann

Two. Understanding State Weakness in the Middle East and North Africa | Raymond Hinnebusch

Three. Rethinking the Postcolonial State in the Middle East: Elite Competition and Negotiation within the Disaggregated Iraqi State | Toby Dodge

Four. Legibility, Digital Surveillance, and the State in the Middle East | Marc Lynch

Section 2: Dimensions of Regime-ness

Five. What We Talk about When We Talk about the State in Postwar Lebanon | Bassel F. Salloukh

Six. The "Business of Government": The State and Changing Patterns of Politics in the Arab World | Lisa Anderson

Seven. Palace Politics as "Precarious" Rule: Weak Statehood in Afghanistan | Dipali Mukhopadhyay

Section 3: Contesting Stateness: Society and Sites of Resistance

Eight. State Capacity and Contention: A View from Jordan | Jillian Schwedler

Nine. Water, Stateness, and Tribalism in Jordan: The Case of the Disi Water Conveyance Project | Sean Yom

Conclusion: The Specter of the Spectrum: Escaping the Residual Category of Weak States | Dan Slater

Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472904617

0472904612