Making Sense of the Arab State / Steven Heydemann, Marc Lynch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heydemann, Steven, author.

Lynch, Marc, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Politics and government.

Political science.

Arab countries--Economic conditions.

Arab countries.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : Michigan State University 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:

Table of Contents Tables Acknowledgments Introduction: Making Sense of the Arab State By Steven Heydemann and Marc Lynch SECTION 1: DIMENSIONS OF STATENESS 1. Seeing the State or Why Arab States Look the Way They Do By Steven Heydemann 2. Understanding State Weakness in the Middle East and North Africa By Raymond Hinnebusch 3. Rethinking the Postcolonial State in the Middle East: Elite Competition and Negotiation within the Disaggregated Iraqi State By Toby Dodge 4. Legibility, Digital Surveillance, and the State in the Middle East By Marc Lynch SECTION 2: DIMENSIONS OF REGIME-NESS 5. What We Talk About When We Talk About the State in Postwar Lebanon By Bassel F. Salloukh 6. The "Business of Government": The State and Changing Patterns of Politics in the Arab World By Lisa Anderson 7. Palace Politics as "Precarious" Rule: Weak Statehood in Afghanistan By Dipali Mukhopadhyay SECTION 3: CONTESTING STATENESS: SOCIETY AND SITES OF RESISTANCE 8. State Capacity and Contention: A View from Jordan By Jillian Schwedler 9. Water, Stateness, and Tribalism in Jordan: The Case of the Disi Water Conveyance Project By Sean Yom 10. Conclusion: The Specter of the Spectrum: Escaping the Residual Category of Weak States By Dan Slater Contributors.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.