Power and Stability in the Middle EastPower and Stability in the Middle East
Berch Berberoglu (ed.)
Who rules the Middle East? How do the different regimes of the region maintain themselves in power? How likely are they to fall, and what forces threaten them?
This thought-provoking collection provides a useful survey of the issues that are shaping events in the Middle East. The essays examine the balance of power in Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. They explain the composition of governments and parties. Case by case, the authors reveal the factors that will determine the survival and future course of the various regimes.
The essays also focus on key events and problems: the causes and destabilizing impact of riots in North Africa, the economic position of the Palestinians throughout the Middle East, and the role of women in national politics in the region.
The book serves as an insightful guide to Middle East affairs and provides the reader with an understanding of its complex political processes.
Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Contributors
About the Editor
Introduction
- 1. Egypt: The origins and Development of a Neo-colonial State
- Ahmad N. Azim
- Nasser and national capitalism
- Sadat's Egypt: infitah and the transition to a neo-colonial state
- Conclusion
- 2. Class Politics and State Power in Ba'thi Syria
- Fred H. Lawson
- Consolidating Ba'thi rule, 1963-65
- Restructuring the regime, 1966-68
- Reorienting the Ba'th, 1970-83
- Conclusion
- 3. Class, State and Politics in Iraq
- Joe Stork
- Oil and revolution
- The revolution shakes down
- The Ba'thi movement
- Politics under the Ba'th
- Oil and the state
- The state as boss
- The war with Iran
- 4. Development of Capitalism and Class Struggles in Turkey
- Fikret Ceyhun
- Laissez-fair capitalism
- Import-substitution industrialization
- Export-oriented industrialization
- The unfolding class struggles
- 5. Political Power and the Saudi State
- Ghassan Salamé
- From Saudi power to Saudi state
- The royal family and its allies
- Clan and state: the officer-princes
- Property and wealth
- The people of Saudi Arabia
- The political opposition
- 6. Class Struggles, the State, and Revolution in Iran
- Farideh Farhi
- Historical background
- National interlude and class struggles
- Return of the Shah and the politics of uneven development
- The state and revolution
- Post-revolutionary struggles and the rise of the theocratic state
- Conclusion
- 7. Riot and Rebellion in North Africa: Political Responses to Economic Crisis in Tunisia, Morocco and Sudan
- David Seddon
- 'Enemies of the people': official explanations for the riots
- Organized opposition or spontaneous protest? (Tunisia and Moroco)
- Organized opposition or spontaneous protest? (Sudan)
- The economic roots of social unrest
- Economic policy and economic crisis
- 8. Women and National Politics in the Middle East
- Julie Peteet
- Women and politics in the Middle East
- Palestinian women
- Conclusion
- 9. Palestine and the Palestinians
- Pamela Ann Smith
- The impoverishment of the peasantry
- The growth of the bourgeoisie
- The decline of the ruling families
- Nationalism and class, 1967 to 1982
- The creation of a new working class
- The bourgeoisie: challenge and retreat
- The ruling families under Israeli occupation
- The Palestinian diaspora, 1982 to 1985
- 10. The Armenian National Question
- Paul Saba
- The Ottoman Empire
- Aremenia before the Ottoman conquest
- Armenians under Ottoman rule
- The Armenian national awakening
- After the genocide
- Armenia, Kurdistan, Palestine
- National liberation: two roads
- A new unity in Kurdistan
- Split in the Palestinian movement
- Split in the Armenian revolutionary movement
Index
To read the "Introduction" to this book, click here [pdf file]
Publication date: 1989
ISBN: 0-86232-808-X (cloth)
0-86232-809-8 (paper)
Available through St. Martin's Press in the U.S.
