Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia

by Sheila Carapico

• ISBN13: 9780521590983
• ISBN10: 0521590981
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-03-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Sheila Carapico's book on civic participation in modern Yemen makes an authoritative contribution to the study of political culture in the Arabian peninsula. Relying on in-depth documentary and field research, the author traces the political dynamics of recent years, culminating in Yemeni unification, focuses on efforts to develop the political, economic and social structures of a modern, democratic government. Her wide-ranging analysis of the legal, institutional and financial aspects of state building and of popular dimensions of political liberalization, protest and participation challenge the stereotypical view of conservative Arab Muslim society. The political economy approach to the study which reveals a surprising degree of 'activism in Arabia' also helps to interpret the nature of civil society from a broad theoretical perspective. This is an important book which promises to become the definitive work on twentieth-century Yemen.

Table of Contents

List of tables	viii	(1)
Preface and acknowledgments	ix	(3)
Note on transliteration and terminology	xii	(1)
List of abbreviations	xiii	(2)
Map	xv
1 Civil society in comparative perspective	1	(18)
2 Twentieth-century states and economies	19	(41)
3 Islam, tribes, and social services	60	(24)
4 Colonialism, activism, and resistance	84	(23)
5 Self-help, social capital, and state power	107	(28)
6 Unity, pluralism, and political participation	135	(35)
7 Civic responses to political crisis	170	(31)
8 Political movements, cultural trends, and civic potential	201	(11)
Endnotes	212	(22)
Glossary	234	(2)
Bibliography	236	(18)
Index	254