Description

Politics From Above, Politics From Below
The Middle East in the Age of Economic Reform

Edited by Eberhard Kienle

Even today, economic liberalization is widely supposed to replace the tyranny of the state with the freedom of the individual and, therefore, the uniformity of politics from above with the liveliness and colour of politics from below.

This book analyses developments in the Middle East, arriving at far less reassuring conclusions: that economic liberalization has failed to entail the continuous growth and widespread welfare gains expected by its proponents; and that by privileging privatization and crony capitalism over competitive but regulated markets and political reform, it has also failed to decentralize and democratize the allocation of resources, be they material or symbolic, to enable individuals to participate meaningfully in the production of social norms.

Contributors include Roger Owen, Sami Zubaida, Valentine M. Moghadam, Jean-Noel Ferrié, Enid Hill, Ulrich G. Wurzel, Ray Bush, Baudouin Dupret, Cilja Harders, Armando Salvatore, Reem Saad, Nadje Sadig el-Ali, Amr Hamzawi, Fanny Colonna and Reinoud Leenders.

ABOUT THE EDITOR(S)

Eberhard Kienle taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and is currently director of the Institut de Recherches et d’Etudes sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman (IREMAM-CNRS) in Aix-en-Provence. He is the author of Ba’th v. Ba’th: The Conflict between Syria and Iraq, 1968-89, and A Grand Delusion: Democracy and Economic Reform in Egypt.

Language: English
ISBN: 9780863569494
2003, hardcover, 359 pages, 17.0 x 24.0 cm