This book explores the conditions of state formation and survival in the Middle East. Based on Historical Sociology, it provides a model for study of the state in the Arab world and a theory to explain its survival.

Examining states as a 'process', the author argues that what emerged in the Middle East in the beginning of the twentieth century are 'social fields'-where states form and deform-and not states as defined by Max Weber. He explores the constitutions of these fields-their cultural, material and political structures-and identifies three stages of state development in which different cases can be located. Capturing the dilemmas that 'late-forming states' face as regimes within them cope with domestic and international pressure, the author illustrates several Middle East cases and presents a detailed analysis of state developments in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

He maintains that more than the domestic characteristics of individual states, state survival in the Middle East is also a function of the anarchic nature of the international (and by extension the regional) states-system.

The first to raise the question on the survivability of the territorial states in the Middle East while engaging with both International Relations and Comparative Politics theories, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Middle East politics, Comparative Politics and International Relations.

About the Author

Adham Saouli is Lecturer of Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. His main research interests are in state formation and behaviour in the Middle East.

Reviews

Saouli is tackling questions that have perplexed political scientists since the advent of the discipline and utilizing Middle Eastern cases to illuminate these conceptual puzzles...The book has many merits. It bridges the divide between comparative politics and international relations to produce research that is broadly relevant to a number of scholarly audiences... its main contribution is to show how "state formation is not a unilinear process" (p. 12). Saouli's positioning of states on a formation/de-formation continuum is particularly creative (p. 13)....The book will be of interest not only to those studying Arab politics, but also to scholars interested in state weakness, variation in state capacity, and state collapse.

Abdul-Wahab Kayyali,, Department of Political Science, George Washington University, Washington D.C

International Journal of Middle East Studies, (46) 2014

Saouli is tackling questions that have perplexed political scientists since the advent of the discipline and utilizing Middle Eastern cases to illuminate these conceptual puzzles...The book has many merits. It bridges the divide between comparative politics and international relations to produce research that is broadly relevant to a number of scholarly audiences... its main contribution is to show how "state formation is not a unilinear process" (p. 12). Saouli's positioning of states on a formation/de-formation continuum is particularly creative (p. 13)....The book will be of interest not only to those studying Arab politics, but also to scholars interested in state weakness, variation in state capacity, and state collapse.

Abdul-Wahab Kayyali,, Department of Political Science, George Washington University, Washington D.C

International Journal of Middle East Studies, (46) 2014

Book Information
ISBN 9781138789135
Author Adham Saouli
Format Paperback
Page Count 164
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 272g