Why is it that even though they all call themselves Arab, there are actually twenty disparate Arab states? Why have these states engaged in numerous attempts at political unification, each of which has ended in failure? Although the rhetoric of politics in most countries is based on broad, universalist ideas such as nationalism or socialism, why have actual ruling castes been so narrowly based and non-representative? These are some of the questions that inform this comparative study of politics and the role of the state in Arab world, and make this a key textbook for students of Middle East politics, political theory and political economy.

This study of politics and the role of the state in the Arab world is aimed at students of Middle East politics, political theory and political economy. Ayubi's main objective is to place the Arab world within a theoretical framework that avoids both ""orientalist"" and ""fundamentalist"" insistence on the utter peculiarity and uniqueness of the region. He focuses on eight countries, and deals with such issues as the emergence of social classes, corporatism, economic liberalization and the relationship between state and civil society.

In its analysis of the process of state formation, this essay collection breaks new ground. Scholars from the Arab countries, Europe, and the United States present historical, economic, philosophical, and sociological perspectives on the Arab states today and offer new paradigms for understanding the region. These sixteen essays examine the roots of the contemporary Arab state system, the durability of that system, and the impact of its economic bases on its strengths and weaknesses. The influence of the various social classes and of key social groupings such as the military is also shown, and dispassionate, non-ideological views on the question of Arab integration are presented. This timely collection, interdisciplinary in its approach, brings new and insightful material to the area of Middle Eastern studies. It will be important reading for those seeking an understanding of this rapidly changing area, as well as for students of comparative political systems. In its analysis of the process of state formation, this essay collection breaks new ground. Scholars from the Arab countries, Europe, and the United States present historical, economic, philosophical, and sociological perspectives on the Arab states today and offer new paradigms for understanding the region. These sixteen essays examine the roots of the contemporary Arab state system, the durability of that system, and the impact of its economic bases on its strengths and weaknesses. The influence of the various social classes and of key social groupings such as the military is also shown, and dispassionate, non-ideological views on the question of Arab integration are presented. This timely collection, interdisciplinary in its approach, brings new and insightful material to the area of Middle Eastern studies. It will be important reading for those seeking an understanding of this rapidly changing area, as well as for students of comparative political systems.

The 2011 Arab uprisings and their subsequent aftermath have thrown into question some of our long-held assumptions about the foundational aspects of the Arab state. While the regional and international consequences of the uprisings continue to unfold with great unpredictability, their ramifications for the internal lives of the states in which they unfolded are just as dramatic and consequential. States historically viewed as models of strength and stability have been shaken to their foundations. Borders thought impenetrable have collapsed; sovereignty and territoriality have been in flux. This book examines some of the central questions facing observers and scholars of the Middle East concerning the nature of power and politics before and after 2011 in the Arab world. The focus of the book revolves around the very nature of politics and the exercise of power in the Arab world, conceptions of the state, its functions and institutions, its sources of legitimacy, and basic notions underlying it such as sovereignty and nationalism. Inside the Arab State adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, examining a broad range of political, economic, and social variables. It begins with an examination of politics, and more specifically political institutions, in the Arab world from the 1950s on, tracing the travail of states, and the wounds they inflicted on society and on themselves along the way, until the eruption of the 2011 uprisings. The uprisings, the states' responses to them, and efforts by political leaders to carve out for themselves means of legitimacy are also discussed, as are the reasons for the emergence and rise of Daesh and the Islamic State. Power, I argue, and increasingly narrow conceptions of it in terms of submission and conformity, remains at the heart of Arab politics, popular protests and yearnings for change notwithstanding. Much has changed in the Arab world over the last several decades. But even more has stayed the same.

This trenchant history of praetorianism in the Arab world recounts the baleful influence of the armed forces in shaping the region's political landscape over the last three decades.

Barnett explores the relationships among Arab identity, the meaning of Arabism, and desired regional order in the Middle East from 1920 to the present, focusing on Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

This book analyzes the recent development of Gulf capitalism through to the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. Situating the Gulf within the evolution of capitalism at a global scale, it presents a novel theoretical interpretation of this important region of the Middle East political economy.