Bayat, Asef.  Life as politics: how ordinary people change the Middle East.  Stanford, 2010.  304p index afp; ISBN 9780804769235, $60.00; ISBN 9780804769242  pbk, $21.95. Reviewed in 2010aug CHOICE.
47-7167  HN656  2009-22941 CIP

This book adapts 12 previously published articles into a cohesive volume with an extensive theoretical introduction, integrating the author’s latest contributions to social movement theory, urban sociology, and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.  Chapters discuss the various strategies and tactics that ordinary people in urban areas use in their daily lives to change and reduce the negative effects of constrictive processes and structures imposed on their cultural, social, political, and economic lives.  While theoretically integrated and enriched by a host of concepts from social movement theories, the topics are wide ranging.  Sociologist Bayat (Leiden Univ.) is interested in agency among noncollective actors, nonmovements, and the dynamics of both subversive and constructive practices and utterances in the “political street.”  He contends that Middle Eastern Islam needs to be treated as the subject as well as the object of political contention.  In the era of “post-Islamism,” urban youth, women, and the secular middle classes are demanding a “rights-based” interpretation and implementation of Islam versus the “duty-based” expectations of Islamicists.  Bayat is an innovative urban social movement theorist whose field research has contributed to a better understanding of social change in the Middle East and the theoretical significance of bottom-up movements as opposed to top-down organized political change.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Upper-division undergraduates and above. — A. Mahdi, emeritus, Ohio Wesleyan University

Beyond the façade:  political reform in the Arab world, ed. by Marina Ottaway and Julia Chouca-Vizoso.  Carnegie Endowment, 2008.  295p index afp; ISBN 9780870032400, $57.95; ISBN 9780870032394  pbk, $22.95. Reviewed in 2008aug CHOICE.
45-7021  JQ1850  2007-45680 CIP

This discussion on political reform is a part of a larger effort on the part of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center. The goal of the researchers is to provide the necessary background to introduce political reform into the Arab Middle East and North Africa in order to increase the level of democracy there.  Ten case studies–Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Yemen–are presented.  The report was spurred by the publication of the United Nations Development Programme’s Arab Human Development Report 2002-2005, which pointed out a significant absence of democratic quality to the governments in the region.  The terrorist attack on the US in September 2001 also highlighted the presence of radical forces undermining political development in the area.  The authors conclude that reform, when it comes, must be uniquely designed to fit the diverse natures of each of the political systems.  Perhaps the single greatest obstacle to the introduction of democracy is the inability of these populations to develop mass organizations.  Finally, external political actors that favor the introduction of democracy in the region must align themselves with reform elements in each of the countries there.  Summing Up:  Recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduate students through professionals. — S. R. Silverburg, Catawba College

Browers, Michaelle L.  Political ideology in the Arab world: accommodation and transformation.  Cambridge, 2009.  198p bibl index; ISBN 9780521765329, $80.00; ISBN 9780521749343  pbk, $32.99. Reviewed in 2010apr CHOICE.
47-4692  JQ1850   CIP

Browers (Wake Forest Univ.), through case studies of oppositional movements in Egypt and Yemen, argues that competing ideologies of opposition in the contemporary Arab region are accommodationist.  She further argues that oppositional alliances are “as much a product of, as they are a source for, shifts in ideological debates in the Arab world over the past several decades.”  The first three chapters demonstrate the rapprochement between Arab nationalists, socialists, and Islamists.  Chapter 4 examines the Wasat Party and the Kifaya (Enough) movement in Egypt, while chapter 5 is devoted to a discussion of the intellectual and ideological shift in Yemen’s opposition, the Joint Meeting Parties. The book contributes to the “inclusion-moderation” and “cooperation-moderation” debates and concentrates on shifting the focus from structural to intellectual and ideological contexts, and from parties to individuals and networks of individuals that cross or work outside party lines.  In the end, “it is often exclusion from, more than inclusion in, formal politics that puts various political actors into contact and conversation with alternative views.”  Although limited in scope by its two case studies, the book is an excellent addition to the debate on the politics of opposition and accommodation in the Arab world.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. All undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. — A. R. Abootalebi, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire 

Fattah, Moataz A.  Democratic values in the Muslim world.  L. Rienner, 2006.  209p bibl index afp ISBN 1-58826-425-4, $49.95.  Outstanding Title!  Reviewed in 2006nov CHOICE.
44-1756  JQ1852  2005-29753 CIP

Compatibility between Islam and democracy has been an issue of significant importance to social scientists and policy makers for several years.  Proponents and opponents have advanced passionate arguments on both sides of this debate.  Notwithstanding the intensity of the argument, one thing is clear:  the majority of Muslim countries today are undemocratic, and those that can be classified as democratic have fragile sociopolitical institutions that threaten their democratic fabric.  What do citizens of Muslim countries think of democratic values?  Do they hold values that enhance or degrade prospects for democratization in their societies?  These and similar questions are examined empirically in this timely, sophisticated, yet accessible book. Fattah (Central Michigan Univ.) seeks to measure Muslim commitments to democratic values using a survey instrument designed for a Muslim audience, covering 31,380 educated individuals in 32 Islamic countries (as well as Muslim minorities in the US, Europe, and India).  The results demonstrate a complex picture where support for democratic values, institutions, and processes vary from country to country and within each society.  Moreover, support for democratic institutions and processes do not always correspond with support for specific democratic values, such as political tolerance.  Summing Up:  Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. — N. Entessar, University of South Alabama

The Government and politics of the Middle East and North Africa, ed. by David E. Long, Bernard Reich, and Mark Gasiorowski.  6th ed.  Westview, 2011.  559p bibl index afp ISBN 0813344492  pbk, $50.00; ISBN 9780813344492  pbk, $50.00. Reviewed in 2011feb CHOICE.
48-3055  DS62  2010-17176 CIP

Published since 1980 and now in its sixth edition, this book provides updated and revised survey articles covering one of the most newsworthy regions in the world.  Each chapter offers a brief historical background plus a discussion of a particular country’s domestic and foreign policy.  The editors aimed to produce a “current, comprehensive, and general book that focuses on the politics (and especially the political dynamics) of the Middle East and North Africa.”  A short introductory essay provides a helpful comparative discussion of this broad region.  Containing maps of each country and brief descriptive bibliographies, the chapters offer readers much useful reference material.  While each section follows a similar format, the content emphasis varies by the particular country and also the individual author’s writing style.  Whereas Routledge’s The Europa World Year Book (see, e.g., Europa World Plus, CH, Oct’05, 43-0679) provides useful information on recent political events in countries around the world, its articles are not as comprehensive as the ones in this anthology.  In addition, the editors have recruited expert academic scholars who provide lucidly written essays that will appeal to a wide range of readers–from laypeople to Middle East specialists.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. — D. Altschiller, Boston University

Human rights in Arab thought: a reader, ed. by Salma K. Jayyusi.  I.B. Tauris, 2009.  670p bibl index  (Library of modern Middle East studies, 44); ISBN 9781850437079, $95.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2010jan CHOICE.
47-2846  JC599   MARC

One of the most distinguished contemporary anthologists here provides an invaluable resource for English-speaking students of Arab politics. First published in Arabic in 2002, this collection should put an end to claims that Arab political thought lacks a rich history of debates over social and political rights, responsibilities, and freedoms. The 22 selections from scholars broaching the topic from a plurality of disciplines and approaches are adeptly translated, highly readable, and well organized into historical, contemporary, and applied sections. While even an anthology of such breadth and length is bound to leave out some important authors, the dearth of contemporary Islamist thinkers whose works are both widely read in the region and fully conversant in human rights discourse–such as Fahmi Huwaydi, Salim al-‘Awwa, and Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah–seems particularly unfortunate. The volume contains a very useful index, but the absence of biographical information on the various contributors is an unfortunate omission, since these writings should be of interest not only to Middle East experts, but to a broader audience with an interest in human rights debates. Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels. — M. Browers, Wake Forest University

Human rights in the Arab world: independent voices, ed. by Anthony Chase and Amr Hamzawy.  Pennsylvania, 2006.  322p index afp ISBN 0-8122-3935-0, $65.00; ISBN 9780812239355, $65.00. Reviewed in 2006dec CHOICE.
44-2353  JC599  2006-44701 CIP

Some Western observers appear to believe that Islam itself is the main cause of endemic human rights violations in virtually all Arab states.  By contrast, many Arab nationalists and Islamists believe that the origins of the disturbingly poor human rights performance of Arab nation-states is simply the ultimate outcome of colonial and Western domination over Arab peoples and their resources.  There are also many thoughtful analysts who argue that the poor human rights records in Arab nation-states reflect the negative consequences of rapid globalization carried out without an appropriate role and place for Arabs and Muslims in modern global systems.  This book attempts to determine how deeply Arab governmental agencies are involved in violating human rights against their own peoples.  Those who assume that Islam is an inherently antidemocratic ideology may find it all too easy to accuse Arabs and Muslims of a miserable human rights performance.  This book deserves high marks for avoiding such a simplistic paradigm, to analyze the apparent conflict between Islamism and human rights.  Chase writes that most human rights violations in the Arab world have very little to do with Islam, but instead are best understood as the outcome of dysfunctional Arab nation-states.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty. — M. A. Khan, University of California, Davis

Jones, Jeremy.  Negotiating change: the new politics of the Middle East.  I.B. Tauris, 2007.  282p bibl index  (Library of modern Middle East studies, 58) ISBN 1-84511-269-5, $72.50; ISBN 9781845112707  pbk, $24.95; ISBN 9781845112691, $72.50; ISBN 1845112709  pbk, $24.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2007jul CHOICE.
44-6475  DS63   MARC

Jones (research fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard) has written an exceptional account of how change can, and must, be negotiated in the Middle East.  He begins his analysis with the wellsprings of political culture in key societies, and scrapes away many barnacles of misconceptions about the political process in the major states of the region.  Also important is his discussion of the “democratic change” idea, a key American policy for the past five years.  Imposing democracy from the outside creates as many problems as it allegedly resolves.  Jones argues those wishing to implant Western-style democracy in the Middle East could use a little humility.  The author’s exceptionally cogent analysis of the relationship between Islamic politics, Islamicism, and legitimacy should be must-reading for students of the Middle East and the foreign policy process there.  This book gets closer to the truth–and the problems–of democracy and Islam than Bernard Lewis’s two works on the crisis of Islam, and is deeper than much strictly political analysis coming from the US.  It is more concise, readable, and easily understood than most works on this subject.  Summing Up: Essential. General readers, upper-division undergraduates through practitioners. — J. D. Stempel, University of Kentucky

Kenney, Jeffrey T.  Muslim rebels:  Kharijites and the politics of extremism in Egypt.  Oxford, 2006.  221p bibl index afp ISBN 0-19-513169-X, $45.00; ISBN 9780195131697, $45.00. Reviewed in 2007nov CHOICE.
45-1694  BP195  2006-3677 CIP

Sophisticated analysis presented in an accessible language makes this book layered and interesting to a range of readers.  Kenney (religious studies, DePauw Univ.) examines the meaning and political manipulation of the term Kharijites, originally applied to the seventh-century Egyptian zealots who rebelled against Caliph Ali and assassinated him. This term has evolved new meanings in Egyptian politics since the mid-20th century. This volume shows that while labeling dissident religious groups Kharijites intends to discredit them by underscoring their self-righteousness, rigidity, and extremism, resorting to competition over Islamic symbols and ideas may backfire and erode the secular claims and legitimacy of the Egyptian government.   The book provides insight into the importance of discourse in politics, along with the political history of Egypt and the challenges posed by the Society of Muslim Brothers. Violence has been a concern of Egyptians for some time, but some elements of the religious discontent, embedded in poverty, inequalities, and a rigidly authoritarian state, resonate with the public at large. While the emphasis is on the presidencies of Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak, relevant events and policies of earlier periods are not neglected.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — Z. F. K. Arat, Purchase College, SUNY

Moustafa, Tamir.  The struggle for constitutional power:  law, politics, and economic development in Egypt.  Cambridge, 2007.  328p bibl index ISBN 0-521-87604-4, $85.00; ISBN 9780521876049, $85.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2008aug CHOICE.
45-7030  KRM2620  2006-35046 CIP

This is an important book, to be read by scholars and students of comparative constitutionalism and constitutional democracy.  Moustafa (Simon Fraser Univ., Canada) addresses fundamental questions such as whether democracy is a necessary prerequisite for effective judicial power.  He challenges the common assumption that courts in authoritarian states are pawns of the regime and obstacles to the realization of minority rights.  He does this by examining the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, perhaps the most important constitutional court in the Arab world.  Anwar Sadat established the court in 1972 by as a means of stabilizing the Egyptian economy and attracting foreign investment by assuring investors that their assets would be safe from state seizure and nationalization.  But the court developed substantial autonomy in other arenas.  It worked to limit executive powers and protect human rights and free expression.  By the 1990s its legitimacy with a new, less liberal government had worn thin, and it faced a number of measures to weaken its powers and undermine the judicial independence that the regime found increasingly threatening.  The Egyptian case offers a good opportunity to examine, more generally, the legitimacy and efficacy of judicial institutions in authoritarian states and their implication for authoritarianism.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through research collections. — J. B. Grossman, Johns Hopkins University

Nabli, Mustapha Kamel.  Breaking the barriers to higher economic growth: better governance and deeper reforms in the Middle East and North Africa.  World Bank, 2008 (c2007).  486p bibl index; ISBN 9780821374153  pbk, $38.00. Reviewed in 2008sep CHOICE.
46-0421  HC415  2007-47530 CIP

Nabli, the longtime chief economist for the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has collected 17 essays he has written or coauthored over the years.  His main theme is that “the power of the private sector in MENA countries needs to be unleashed.”  The first six essays cover reform and governance.  The next four are on labor, especially the challenge of creating jobs for a rapidly growing labor force.  The last seven essays focus on trade and investment.  One of Nabli’s main themes is the need for “more accountable and inclusive public institutions”; he extends this theme to argue that democracy is important for development, for which the evidence is less clear.  In several essays, Nabli argues that reforms to date have been inadequate to encourage private investment sufficient to create job growth.  He criticizes a variety of policies common in the region, such as fixed exchange rates and education better suited for public sector employment than for private sector jobs.  One essay is quite technical economics, but most of the rest are very accessible to the general reader.  Useful reading for anyone interested in the economic development of the MENA region.  Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. — P. Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Politics & society in the contemporary Middle East, ed. by Michele Penner Angrist.  L. Rienner, 2010.  509p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781588267412, $75.00.  Reviewed in 2011mar CHOICE.
48-4124 JQ1758 CIP

This is an innovative textbook on the comparative politics of the Middle East.  Including the editor, Angrist (Union College), who wrote the introduction and conclusion, an impressive group of 20 scholars contributed to it.  It combines two approaches.  Part 1 deals in a broad, comparative fashion with the whole region, focusing on governments and oppositions, the impact of international politics (on domestic affairs), political economy, civil society, religion and politics, and identity and politics.  Part 2 is made up of case studies of 11 states and the Palestinian Authority.  In keeping with the attempt to make this a work of true comparative politics, each country study is organized around the themes introduced in part 1.  The contributors have provided an impressive amount of material.  Some instructors may want to use it as the framework for a course on Middle East politics, while others will find it a useful reference.  Admittedly, readers will find occasional small flaws, and some matters could have been developed further (e.g., foreign backing of regimes as a mainstay of their survival), but overall this is one of the best surveys of Middle Eastern politics.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  All readership levels. — G. E. Perry, emeritus,  Indiana State University

Rivlin, Paul.  Arab economies in the twenty-first century.  Cambridge, 2009.  317p bibl index; ISBN 9780521895002, $85.00; ISBN 9780521719230  pbk, $24.99. Reviewed in 2009aug CHOICE.
46-6932  HC498  2008-31270 CIP

Rivlin (Tel-Aviv Univ.), an economics professor whose career has included stays at several US and Israeli universities, surveys Arab economies against the background of Arab history.  Separate chapters cover most of the Fertile Crescent (Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria) and much of North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia), but the only Arabian Peninsula country analyzed is Saudi Arabia–not the five other Gulf monarchies or Yemen.  Three chapters on the Arab countries as a whole examine the region’s demographic transition from rapid to modest population growth, its poor growth record compared to East Asia and Latin America, and the constraints of history and geography.  Rivlin’s central question is, why have reforms been so limited?  His answer is to look at the deep historical roots of the political systems, especially the emphasis on stability rather than change.  Rivlin’s strength is in placing contemporary developments in a long historical perspective.  He is particularly interested in labor market trends, such as job creation and unemployment for the youth bulge produced by high past population growth.  He draws heavily on International Monetary Fund and World Bank reports as sources, presenting data generally through 2005.  Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduate students. — P. Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Rubin, Barry.  The long war for freedom: the Arab struggle for democracy in the Middle East.  Wiley, 2006.  296p index ISBN 0-471-73901-4, $25.95.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2006apr CHOICE.
43-4911  JQ1758  2005-20231 CIP

This important book provides a chance to personally sit down with a vital element of Middle East society that up to now has been inexplicably given little voice.  It is the first serious attempt at what should be a long line of work on Arab liberalism.  Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, examines the ideas and strategies of Arab reformers as a subject worthy of independent analysis.  Too many today either dismiss Arab liberals outright or unite them into an amorphous blob.  This work shows the diversity within Arab liberalism and places it within the greater context of governmental repression and religious radicalism.  The prose, though intellectual, is easily accessible, even for those who do not consider themselves academics.  This very reason might prove to be a criticism for the ivory tower community; but the subject matter addressed in this work should be written so as to appeal to more than just the policy-wonk crowd.  It is heavily empirical, perhaps even leaning a bit too much toward anecdotal, but this makes sense for the author, who wants to acquaint readers with Arab reformers in their own words.  Summing Up: Essential. General readers, lower-division undergraduates and above. — M. D. Crosston, Clemson University

Rutherford, Bruce K.  Egypt after Mubarak:  liberalism, Islam, and democracy in the Arab world.  Princeton, 2009 (c2008).  292p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780691136653, $35.00. Reviewed in 2009oct CHOICE.
47-1096  JQ3881  2008-19455 CIP

Reform movements in contemporary Egypt come in three varieties:  proponents of judicial review and constitutional rule, moderate Islamists who decry official corruption and champion social justice, and private businesspeople who advocate economic liberalization as a first step toward greater public participation in policy making. Rutherford (Colgate Univ.) offers a compelling overview of these three camps, arguing that they have gained strength in recent years due to the political-economic crisis that continues to hamstring the authorities.  Whether the reformers will succeed in creating a liberal democracy remains an open question.  There is a good chance that the Mubarak regime is using political and economic reforms as mechanisms to block more fundamental change.  Rutherford poses the problem in terms of the dynamics of “hybrid regimes,” which may have some use as an analytical category, but leaves the most interesting questions unresolved.  Only at the end does he discuss the security forces that play a key role in perpetuating the status quo.  The radical groups that broke with the moderate Muslim Brothers and challenged the regime by force, thereby bringing the Islamist movement as a whole into disrepute, are barely mentioned.  Summing Up: Recommended.  All readership levels. — F. H. Lawson, Mills College

Scott, Rachel M.  The challenge of political Islam:  non-Muslims and the Egyptian state.  Stanford, 2010.  277p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780804769051, $65.00; ISBN 9780804769068  pbk, $24.95. Reviewed in 2010dec CHOICE.
48-2328  BP172  2009-52983 CIP

Scott (religion and culture, Virginia Tech Univ.), a University of London PhD, uses extensive personal interviews and literary reviews by leading Egyptian Muslim and Coptic intellectuals and political figures to examine the challenges of tolerance, participation, and diversity in a modern Islamic state.  Over seven chapters Scott examines thinking about the status of protected non-Muslims (dhimmi) in classical through Ottoman Islamic thought, the historical development of Islamism (Islam as an all-embracing ideology) in Egypt, Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt since WW II, current views on the application and meaning of dhimmi status in a pluralistic state, Islamist thought on the theory and application of the principle of citizenship, and Coptic responses to Islamist thought.  Scott concludes that significant progress has been made toward the articulation of an Islamic model of citizenship that is inclusive of non-Muslims.  Scott especially succeeds in demonstrating both the diversity of opinion and the dynamism that existed historically within the Sharia (Islamic law) and that informs the current debate over the meaning of an Islamic state.  In the process, she very effectively dispels any notion of monolithic Islamic (or Coptic) opinion.  Summing Up: Essential.  Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. — C. H. Allen, Shenandoah University

Women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa: progress amid resistance, ed. by Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin.  2010 ed.  Freedom House/Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.  590p afp; ISBN 9781442203952, $85.00; ISBN 9781442203969  pbk, $49.95. Reviewed in 2011jan CHOICE.
48-2463  HQ1236  2010-14925 CIP

This 2010 edition reports on advances made since the first edition was published (CH, Feb’06, 43-3658). The Freedom House editors provide information regarding women’s rights in 18 countries in the geographical area encompassing the Middle East and North Africa; each report is written by a contributor from one of these countries. In a well-written introductory essay, the editors offer insights on the difficulties that women in these areas face, on the driving forces behind progress, and on the dilemma of activists hoping to support human rights. Among the many interesting particulars of note in this report is the fact that in Sharia law women’s testimony in court frequently counts for half of that of men, but that Sharia law is open to interpretation depending on a country’s legal system. The editors have added information on Iran to this edition; in order to have a more complete vision of the region, the inclusion of Israel might be useful. This volume includes a section on methodology, including the very transparent and easy-to-understand scoring system used to rate countries on issues such as their provision of access to justice and political rights. An index for this volume would have been useful, though the book is clearly and consistently organized to make comparing specific topics painless. Another good resource on this topic, but one that is significantly more expensive at $195.00, is the two-volume Women and Politics around the World, edited by J. Gelb and M. L. Palley (CH, Apr’10, 47-4674). This new resource from Freedom House will be useful for students of political science, justice, women’s studies, sociology, history, and law. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. — J. Q. Vance, Walla Walla Community College

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