Civil Society in the Middle East, Volume 1

While there is wide disagreement about the outcome among those who follow events in the Middle East, there is little doubt that the regimes in the region are under increasing pressure from their citizens. In rich and poor states alike, incipient movements of men and women are demanding a voice in politics. Recent political developments in Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon and the state of Palestine, clearly show the vitality and dynamism of civil society, the melange of associations, clubs, guilds, syndicates, federations, unions, parties and groups which provide a buffer between state and citizen and which are now so clearly at the forefront of political liberalization in the region. This text is the first of a two-volume set of papers that provide an assessment of contemporary politics within the Middle East and is the result of a project of the Department of Politics and the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at the University of New York. It presents original studies of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, and discusses the prospects for democratization in the Arab world, the consequences of economic liberalization and contemporary Islamic thought on civil society and democracy.