Contentious Politics in the Middle East

by Albrecht, Holger

• ISBN13: 9780813034744
• ISBN10: 0813034744
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-18
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Florida

Summary

"A fine collection of empirically rich and thoughtful studies on a topic of considerable interest. Its fine-grained analyses of individual countries, organizations, and episodes of regime-opposition interaction make an important contribution to our understanding of authoritarian rule in the Middle East and beyond."-David Waldner, University of Virginia "Clearly addresses a gap in the literature on Middle East politics by focusing on various oppositions within different countries of the region. Deepens understanding of the concepts of opposition and contentious politics within authoritarian political systems."-Nicola Pratt, University of Warwick Scholarship examining the governments in the Middle East and North Africa rarely focuses on opposition movements, since those countries tend to be ruled by a centralized, often authoritarian government. However, even in an oppressive state, there are civil society and oppositional forces at work. The contributors toContentious Politics in the Middle Eastreveal how such forces emerge and are manifested in nondemocratic states across the region. In most cases, the essays offer a comparative perspective, highlighting similarities across political borders. Providing historical context for current events, they examine the sociopolitical situations in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Algeria and analyze the role of Islam in Arab statesrs" governments and in the opposition movements to them. They also demonstrate that not all opposition forces propose the overthrow of authority and point out the various forms opposition takes in societies that leave little room for political activism. The contributors to the volume are drawn from countries across three continents and bring backgrounds in political science, conflict resolution, and history. Challenging the assertion that state-society relations are limited to coercive top-down arrangements in authoritarian regimes, the book will inspire debate on the topic of contentious political participation within the region as well as in similar settings throughout the world.

Author Biography

Holger Albrecht is an assistant professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Contentious Politics, Political Opposition, and Authoritarianism	p. 1
Approaching Contentious Politics under Authoritarianism
Political Opposition and Arab Authoritarianism: Some Conceptual Remarks	p. 17
The Discreet Appeal of Authoritarianism: Political Bargains and Stability of Liberal Authoritarian Regimes in the Middle East	p. 34
Political Opposition in the Islamic Tradition: A Historical Perspective	p. 52
Political Opposition in Civil Society
Show Me the Money! Opposition, Western Funding, and Civil Society in Jordan and Lebanon	p. 75
Opposition Alliances under Electoral Authoritarianism: The United National Front for Change in Egypt's 2005 Parliamentary Elections	p. 94
The Islamist Quest: Between Opposition, Resistance, and Inclusion
Questioning Power, Mobilization, and Strategies of the Islamist Opposition: How Strong is the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan?	p. 117
Explaining Shifts in Syria's Islamist Opposition	p. 138
Islamist Engagement in Contentious Politics: Kuwait and Bahrain	p. 156
Contention and Opposition within Authoritarian Regimes
Opposition within the State: Governance in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia	p. 181
Remaking Lebanon after Syria: The Rise and Fall of Proxy Authoritarianism	p. 205
Concluding Remarks: Opposition in Support of the Arab State, Revisited	p. 229
List of Contributors	p. 243
Index	p. 245
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