Over-stating the Arab State : Politics and Society in the Middle East

"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."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Tables 11 Preface and Acknowledgements 12 1. The Middle East and the State Debate: a Conceptual Framework 16 The state debate 19 The state in comparative perspective 25 The non-individualistic path to the state 30 The Arabs and the issue of the state 36 Schematic argument and conceptual framework 39 2. Modes of Production and the Origins of the Arabo-Islamic State 53 Modes of production and social formations 54 The ancient near-eastern state and the 'Asiatic mode of production' 56 Early Islamic Arabia and the nomadic/conquestal mode of production 64 The Umayyads and the lineage/iqta'i symbiosis 76 The Abbasids and the iqta'i/mercantile symbiosis 77 The Ottomans and the military/iqta'i symbiosis 80 The Articulation of modes of production in the historical arabo-islamic state 87 Politics and ideology in the historical Arabo-Islamic state 97 3. State Formation in the Modern Era: the Colonial/Indigenous Mix 101 The European encroachment 101 A colonial mode of production? 106 State Formation in Egypt 114 State Formation in the Levant 123 State Formation in North Africa 132 State Formation in Arabia and the Gulf 138 4. The Arab State: Territorial or Pan-Arabist? 150 The pan-Arabist ideology 151 Pan-Arabism and the 'state' 158 The regional/functional approach 166 The 'missing bourgeoisie' and the future of Arab unity 173 5. The Sociology of Articulated Modes: Community, Class and Polity 179 Political culture or political economy? 179 Social correlates of articulated modes 184 A closer look at social classes 189 Corporatism and state-society relations 198 6. The Political System of Articulated Forms: the Radical, Populist Republics 211 Socialism or étatisme 211 Corporatist Devices: Macro and Micro 224 Arab populisms in comparative perspective 229 7. The Political System of Articulated Forms: the Conservative, Kin-ordered Monarchies 239 Rentier economies, rentier states 239 Politics and Ideology: the kinship/religion symbiosis 245 'Political Tribalism': or corporatism Gulf-style 255 8. Civil-Military Relations 271 Causes for military intervention 273 Explaining the decline in coups 275 The radical republics and the military-industrial complex 281 The conservative monarchies and the military-tribal complex 293 9. Bureaucratic Growth: Development Versus Control 304 Expansion in the economic role of the state 305 Bureaucratic growth in the Arab countries 311 Explaining the expansion 325 The control functions of Arab bureaucracies 335 10. Economic Liberalisation and Privatisation: Is the Arab State Contracting? 344 Modalities of privatisation 348 Domestic versus international stimuli 350 Country cases 354 Arab liberalisations in comparative perspective 397 The politics of economic adjustment 404 11. Prospects for Democracy: Is the Civil Society Striking Back? 411 Cultural and intellectual requisities for democracy 412 Socio-economic requisities for democracy 414 Political correlates of economic liberalisation 417 Manifestations of political liberalisation 426 Country cases 430 The Yemeni adventure 446 Public/private; civil/civic 453 12. Conclusion: the 'Strong', the 'Hard' and the 'Fierce' 462 Bibliography 475 Index 511 Device=A4,Resolution=600x600dpi,InputSlot=Tray1,PageRegion=A4,MediaType=Plain,OutputBin=STD,Duplex=None,Collate=False,PrepsScreening=value The author's objective within this book is to place the Arab world within a theoretical and comparative framework that avoids both orientalist and fundamentalist insistence on the utter peculiarity and uniqueness of the region. The book focuses in detail on eight Arab countries. Ayubi's study of politics and the role of the state in the Arab world will be a key text for students of Middle East politics. His objective is to place the Arab world within a theoretical framework that avoids orientalist and fundamentalist labels