Inside the Arab State

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.

About the Author :
Mehran Kamrava is Professor and Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He is the author of a number of journal articles and books, including, most recently, The Impossibility of Palestine: History, Geography, and the Road Ahead (Yale U. P., 2016); Qatar: Small State, Big Politics (Cornell U. P., 2015); The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War, 3rd ed. (University of California Press, 2013); and Iran's Intellectual Revolution (Cambridge U. P., 2008). His edited books include Fragile Politics: Weak States in the Greater Middle East, Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East, and The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf, The Nuclear Question in the Middle East, all available from Oxford University Press

Review :
"An ideal primer for students and scholars seeking to grasp institutional continuity and change in the contemporary Arab world."-- Jason Brownlee, Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin "In this useful synthesis, Kamrava reviews the best empirical studies and theoretical analyses of political transitions in middle-income countries to illuminate the recent trajectory of the Arab world." -- Foreign Affairs "Inside the Arab State is a top pick for understanding the Arab state and politics." -- Middle East Quarterly "An important book for understanding Arab politics and, in particular, the internal dynamics affecting the behavior of many of the Arab states." -- Bustan: The Middle East Book Review