The Routledge Handbook to the Middle East and North African State and States System

415 Pages·2020·28.706 MB·English

by  Raymond Hinnebusch, Jasmine Gani

The Routledge Handbook to the
Middle East and North African
State and States System
Conflict and instability are built into the very fabric of the Middle East and North African
(MENA) state and states system; yet both states and states system have displayed remarkable
resilience. How can we explain this? This handbook explores the main debates, theoretical
approaches and accumulated empirical research by prominent scholars in the field, provid-
ing an essential context for scholars pursuing research on the MENA state and states system.
Contributions are grouped into four key themes:
• Historical contexts, state-building and politics in MENA
• State actors, societal context and popular activism
• Trans-state politics: the political economy and identity contexts
• The international politics of MENA
The 26 chapters examine the evolution of the state and states system, before and after inde-
pendence, and take the 2011 Arab uprisings as a pivotal moment that intensified trends already
embedded in the system, exposing the deep features of state and system—specifically their built-
in vulnerability and their ability to survive.
This handbook provides comprehensive coverage of the history and role of the state in the
MENA region. It offers a key resource for all researchers and students interested in international
relations and the Middle East and North Africa.
Raymond Hinnebusch is Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics at the
University of St. Andrews.
Jasmine K. Gani is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St. Andrews.

The Routledge Handbook
to the Middle East and
North African State and
States System
Edited by Raymond Hinnebusch
and Jasmine K. Gani
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
 2020 selection and editorial matter, Raymond Hinnebusch and
Jasmine K. Gani; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Raymond Hinnebusch and Jasmine K. Gani to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hinnebusch, Raymond A., editor. | Gani, J. K., editor.
Title: The Routledge Handbook to the Middle East and
North African State and States System / edited by Raymond
Hinnebusch and Jasmine K. Gani. Other titles: Handbook to the
Middle East and North African State and States System
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019029800 (print) | LCCN 2019029801
(ebook) | ISBN 9780367358877 (hardback) | ISBN
9780429342486 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Middle East—Politics and government. | Africa,
North—Politics and government. | Middle East—Foreign
relations. | Africa, North—Foreign relations.
Classification: LCC JQ1758.A58 R68 2019 (print) | LCC JQ1758.
A58 (ebook) | DDC 320.456--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019029800
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019029801
ISBN: 978-0-367-35887-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-34248-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
List of tables viii
List of figures ix
List of contributors x
PART I
Historical context, state-building and politics in MENA 1
1 State, revolution and war: conflict and resilience in MENA’s states
and states system 3
Raymond Hinnebusch, University of St. Andrews
2 Historical context of state formation in the Middle East: structure
and agency 21
Raymond Hinnebusch, University of St. Andrews
3 States and state-building in the Middle East 40
Adham Saouli, Doha Institute and University of St. Andrews
4 Political regimes of the Middle East and North Africa 51
Oliver Schlumberger, Tubingen University
5 Authoritarian adaptability and the Arab Spring 67
Stephen J. King, Georgetown University
6 The Arab Spring and the Gulf monarchies 87
Christopher M. Davidson, Royal United Services Institute
7 Leadership and legitimacy in MENA 98
Mark Sedgwick, Aarhus University
v
Contents
PART II
State actors, societal context and popular activism 113
8 The military in the Arab state 115
Philippe Droz-Vincent, Sciences-Po Grenoble (France)
9 Tribes in MENA politics: the Levant case 126
Dawn Chatty, University of Oxford
10 Political parties in the Middle East 136
Lise Storm, University of Exeter
11 Islam and Islamic movements and MENA politics 153
Ewan Stein, The University of Edinburgh, and Neil Russell,
The University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University
12 Civil society in the Middle East and North Africa 165
Vincent Durac, University College Dublin
13 The Arab Spring is not lost: moral protest as the embodiment of
a new politics 177
Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh, Qatar University
14 Tunisia’s “civic parallelism”: lessons for Arab democratization 191
Larbi Sadiki, Qatar University
PART III
Trans-state politics: the political economy and identity
contexts 209
15 The Middle East and North Africa in the lens of Marxist
International Relations theory 211
Jamie Allinson, The University of Edinburgh
16 Oil and the rentier state in the Middle East 225
Thomas Richter, German Institute of Global and Area Studies
17 Divergent development in Egypt and the Gulf 238
Rodney Wilson, Durham University
18 Studying identity politics in Middle East international relations:
before and after the Arab uprisings 251
Morten Valbjørn, Aarhus University
vi
Contents
19 Arab nationalism in Anglophone discourse: a conceptual and
historical reassessment 270
Jasmine K. Gani, University of St. Andrews
PART IV
The international politics of MENA 285
20 Conflict in the Middle East 287
Francesco Belcastro, University of Derby
21 Regionalism in the Middle East and North Africa 297
Louise Fawcett, University of Oxford
22 An exceptional context for a debate on international relations?
Toward a synthetic approach to the study of the MENA’s
international politics 312
Pietro Marzo and Francesco Cavatorta, Université Laval
23 US hegemony and MENA 324
Stephen Zunes, University of San Francesco
24 Alliances and the balance of power in the Middle East 340
Curtis R. Ryan, Appalachian State University
25 War in the Middle East 354
Raymond Hinnebusch, University of St. Andrews
26 International relations of the Gulf: from stable rivalry to
spreading instability 375
Matteo Legrenzi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and
Fred H. Lawson
Index 389
vii
Tables
7.1 Parts of the nation-state 101
7.2 Varieties of legitimacy 103
7.3 MENA country groups 105
7.4 Patterns of MENA internal legitimacy 105
16.1 Contextualizing the rentier state approach 230
17.1 Ease of doing business rankings 243
17.2 Corruption perception scores 244
17.3 Sector shares of GDP 245
17.4 Happy planet indices 246
21.1 Regionalism in MENA: a chronology 300
25.1 Occasions of war involvement by regime types 356
25.2 Features of regional systems, issues at stake or motives driving wars 360
viii
Figures
3.1 Structure of state formation 43
14.1 Civic parallelism in Tunisia’s transition 197
14.2 Seats in Tunisia’s new parliament elected in October 2014 204
16.1 Crude oil price in US dollars, 2016 (deflated using the Consumer
Price Index for the US), 1946–2016 226
16.2 Hydrocarbon income as a per cent share of total revenue for the
GCC Member States, 1973–2006 227
ix