Beyond Coercion: The Durability Of The Arab State (routledge Library Editions: Politics Of The Middle East) (volume 6)

This volume, first published in 1988, analyses the process of stabilisation amongst the Arab states, a process that has contradicted all predictions of impending disintegration and impending collapse. Although there were some cases of disintegration, there are evidently mechanisms at work that helped consolidate the majority of Arab states and the Arab state system. Revolutions, as in Iran or the Sudan, or political collapse and disintegration, as in Lebanon, have been highly visible but nevertheless exceptions. This collection, Volume Three in the Nation, State and Integration in the Arab World research project carried out by the Istituto Affari Internazionali, focuses on the problem of explaining the stability and persistence of the state in the Arab world. Although the Arabian Peninsula is the heartland of Islam and of the Arab world, for decades it did not receive the attention it deserves from scholars and writers. The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and the Middle East Centre of St Antony's College, Oxford, jointly organized a series of seminars, culminating in a conference at which the papers in this volume (first published in 1972) were discussed. Together they constitute an authoritative statement of our present knowledge of several areas of the Peninsula, with particular emphasis on the Gulf States. Three chapters trace the history of Oman from pre-Islamic times to the recent past, and in so doing emphasize the theme of continuing conflict between sultan and imam. Other chapters examine the Gulf and the Peninsula from the standpoint of inter-Arab and of international relations. The third section of the book is devoted to a discussion of the increasing rate of social change in the area, and the final section deals with problems of oil and state and of economic development It has often been argued that Arab states are arbitrary political creations, lacking historical or present legitimacy. This book, first published in 1990, provides a different picture of 'the Arab state', drawing on historical, economic, philosophical and sociological perspectives to give a balanced and convincing view of the complex reality of contemporary Arab politics. The contributors, from the Arab countries, from Europe and the United States, investigate the roots of the nation state in the Arab world, evaluating in particular the economic bases of individual states. They discuss the evo Comparative political study of the Middle East got off to a late start. Unlike any previous studies in comparative politics, this book, first published in 1980, represents an important methodological advance in that it proceeds by themes rather than by countries, and uniquely focuses on three major aspects of electoral politics in three contemporary Middle Eastern states. The three countries - Turkey, Lebanon and Israel - are chosen because they are the only Middle Eastern countries with a tradition of free elections. On the other hand, they also display certain characteristics found in other This book explores the origins, foundations, impact and stability of Arab states. It analyses the process of stabilisation amongst the Arab states, a process that has contradicted all predictions of impending disintegration and political collapse. This is a collection of titles written by a range of international authors that seeks to get at the heart of the political experience in the Middle East, an endeavour that is as crucial today as it was when these books were first published.