Civil Society in the Middle East (2 vols.)

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 two-volume set of papers provides 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. Covering countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, the Sudan, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, it contains new material on unions, political parties, professional syndicates and other components of civil society, and weighs the prospects for political reform in the Middle East.