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This study provides an overview of trends on Bahrain islands and of
the social and historical context from which they have emerged. It
is intended as an introduction to Bahraini affairs for the general
reader and thus makes use of the existing literature wherever
possible.
First published in 1989. Bahrain is at the same time unique among
the Arab oil-producing Gulf states and indicative of future
developments in these emirates. Its uniqueness lies in the social,
political, and economic structures of the country: The indigenous
population is characterized by a peculiar set of overlapping
cleavages; the country's industrial work force has a history of
militant action and a degree of political consciousness unmatched
in neighbouring states; and the islands' economy has achieved a
level of diversification into non-petroleum-related activities that
is the envy of planners in the surrounding area. This study
provides an overview of current trends on the islands and of the
social and historical context from which they have emerged. It is
intended as an introduction to Bahraini affairs for the general
reader and thus makes use of the existing literature wherever
possible.
"Lawson's book salvages the study of the inter-Arab political
system from the Middle Eastern ghetto to which it has often been
relegated and reintegrates it into a global framework. This work
not only strikes another blow against the notion of Middle East
exceptionalism, it does so within an interdisciplinary framework
that should appeal to both political scientists and
historians."--James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los
Angeles
"Students of international politics generally throw up their hands
at 'exotic' regions like the Middle East. Lawson's fine treatment
reveals that standard explanations for the emergence of the state
system there are too simple but that the puzzle will yield to
careful theorizing and meticulous research. He shows that areas
outside of Europe and the United States need not be off-limits to
social science, but do need to be approached with deep
understanding of the histories and societies involved."--Robert
Jervis, Columbia University
Countries at the Crossroads is an annual survey of government
performance in 30 key countries worldwide that are at a critical
crossroads in determining their political future. Crossroads
provides a unique comparative tool for assessing government
performance in the areas of accountability and public voice, civil
liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption and transparency. The
countries evaluated in Crossroads represent a range of governments:
traditional or constitutional monarchies, one-party states or
outright dictatorships, failed states, states where reforms have
stalled or lagged behind, and states that suffer from insurgencies.
The survey provides a comparative, in-depth assessment of
democratic governance intended to help government officials,
scholars, educators, nongovernmental organizations, and the media
identify areas of progress and highlight points of concern. For the
international community, the survey helps target diplomatic efforts
and reform assistance. The narratives and scores clearly highlight
the problems and successes of each government, and separate
recommendations sections prioritize the steps that should be taken
by the countries in question to remedy deficiencies in governance.
Regionalism has regained momentum in the post-Cold War era. New
economic groupings continue to spring up across the globe, while
older regional organizations have strengthened their institutional
bases and broadened their scope. Explaining the reinvigoration of
regionalism requires comparative analyses that not only highlight
the commonalities that characterize various regional experiments
but also account for the differential outcomes and divergent
trajectories such projects exhibit. This collection of seminal
articles on regionalism advances theoretical concepts that can
stimulate useful comparisons, along with scholarly surveys of
important instances of regionalism in the contemporary world.
Besides classic studies of the European Union, the volume includes
authoritative overviews and case studies of regionalist projects in
East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and
Central Eurasia. An introductory essay situates these articles in
the context of the five decade-long research program on regional
integration theory.
Following the popular uprisings that swept across the Arab world
beginning in 2010, armed forces remained pivotal actors in politics
throughout the region. As demonstrators started to challenge
entrenched autocratic rulers in Tunis, Cairo, Sana'a, and Manama,
the militaries stormed back into the limelight and largely
determined whether any given ruler survived the protests. In
Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, senior officers pulled away from their
presidents, while in Algeria, Bahrain, and Syria, they did not.
More important, military officers took command in shaping the new
order and conflict trajectories throughout that region. Armies and
Insurgencies in the Arab Spring explores the central problems
surrounding the role of armed forces in the contemporary Arab
world. How and why do military apparatuses actively intervene in
politics? What explains the fact that in some countries, military
officers and rank-and-file take steps to defend an incumbent, while
in others they defect and refrain from suppressing popular protest?
What are the institutional legacies of the military's engagement
during, and in the immediate aftermath of, mass uprisings? Focusing
on these questions, editors Holger Albrecht, Aurel Croissant, and
Fred H. Lawson have organized Armies and Insurgencies in the Arab
Spring into three sections. The first employs case studies to make
comparisons within and between regions; the second examines
military engagements in the Arab uprisings in Yemen, Bahrain, and
Syria; and the third looks at political developments following the
cresting of the protest wave in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the
Gulf. The collection promotes better understanding not only of the
particular history of military engagement in the Arab Spring but
also of significant aspects of the transformation of
political-military relations in other regions of the contemporary
world. Contributors: Holger Albrecht, Risa A. Brooks, Cherine Chams
El-Dine, Virginie Collombier, Aurel Croissant, Philippe
Droz-Vincent, Kevin Koehler, Fred H. Lawson, Shana Marshall,
Dorothy Ohl, David Pion-Berlin, Tobias Selge, Robert Springborg.
This timely study examines the forces at play in one of the world's
most explosive nations, helping readers understand why Syria's
popular uprising has been the most violent and hard-fought in the
Middle East. In this insightful work, a noted expert goes behind
the headlines to examine the complexities of Syrian politics and
their impact on the modern world. Beginning with an overview of
political and economic change after 1963 when the Ba'th Party came
to power, the book focuses on developments in Syria since Bashar
al-Assad assumed the presidency in 2000. It probes the evolution of
the Islamist opposition and the course of the popular uprising that
broke out in 2011 and explores Syria's multilayered relations with
Israel, Turkey, Iran, Russia, and the United States. Readers will
learn why rebellion in Syria has taken a much different path than
movements that overturned autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and
Yemen. They will also come away with a more nuanced understanding
of the pivotal role Syria plays in both the Arab-Israeli conflict
and inter-Arab relations, as well as the confluence of domestic
challenges and foreign threats that make Syria the most vulnerable
state in the contemporary Middle East.
Countries at the Crossroads is an annual survey of government
performance in 30 key countries worldwide that are at a critical
crossroads in determining their political future. Crossroads
provides a unique comparative tool for assessing government
performance in the areas of accountability and public voice, civil
liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption and transparency. The
countries evaluated in Crossroads represent a range of governments:
traditional or constitutional monarchies, one-party states or
outright dictatorships, failed states, states where reforms have
stalled or lagged behind, and states that suffer from insurgencies.
The survey provides a comparative, in-depth assessment of
democratic governance intended to help government officials,
scholars, educators, nongovernmental organizations, and the media
identify areas of progress and highlight points of concern. For the
international community, the survey helps target diplomatic efforts
and reform assistance. The narratives and scores clearly highlight
the problems and successes of each government, and separate
recommendations sections prioritize the steps that should be taken
by the countries in question to remedy deficiencies in governance.
Rejecting conventional explanations for Syrian foreign policy,
which emphasize the personalities and attitudes of leaders,
cultural factors peculiar to Arab societies, or the machinations of
the great powers, Fred H. Lawson describes key shifts in Damascus's
response to regional adversaries in terms of changes in the
intensity of political struggles at home. Periodic eruptions of
domestic conflict have inspired Syria's ruling coalition to adopt a
wide range of programs designed to buy off domestic rivals and
perpetuate the predominance of individual coalition members. These
programs have undermined the unity of the Ba'thi regime, increasing
the chances that opponents will overturn the established order.
Challenges to the Ba'thi regime become most threatening whenever
crises of accumulation shake the domestic political economy, Lawson
contends. Opposition forces gain strength when the state cannot
sustain new investment or when competition increases between public
and private enterprises. Political and economic trends inside Syria
have determined why Damascus has since 1963 alternately escalated
tensions with regional rivals and adopted more accommodating
postures. Lawson traces this dynamic through five major episodes:
the 1967 war with Israel; limited intervention in Jordan in 1970;
the widening conflict in Lebanon in 1976; the defusing of conflict
with Iraq in 1982; and the rapprochement with Turkey over Kurdish
separatism in 1994. These patterns, Lawson suggests, may be
characteristic of nations changing from one domestic economic
system to a radically different one, as Syria has in the transition
from state socialism to a privatized political economy.
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