The issue of Arab authoritarianism very often has been treated from within the paradigm of democratization theory. Accordingly, a significant number of studies have examined Arab polities in terms of the “stage” they were at in the teleological march toward democracy. This approach implies that the absence of democracy in the region was due to some missing factor that once found inevitably would lead countries back on a course to democracy, as happened in other world regions. This new volume edited by Oliver Schlumberger is a very welcome novelty in studies of Arab authoritarianism because it finally abandons the democratization paradigm and sets out, through a number of excellent contributions from noted scholars of Middle East studies, to explain the resilience of authoritarianism in its own right. The contributors to the volume treat Arab authoritarianism as a political system of its own and analyze how “political rule in Arab countries is effectuated, organized and executed.” This research enterprise greatly strengthens our understanding of Arab political systems, the differences that exist among them, and the types of rule to which they subscribe. Moving away from the now sterile democratization framework, Schlumberger's volume leads us into a post-democratization analysis of the persistence of authoritarian rule in the region.
The original stimulus for the book came from a realization that, while authoritarian rule was still dominant in the Arab world, changes had been occurring at a rapid pace since the beginning of the new millennium. Among these changes, Schlumberger highlights three: the renewal of domestic political protest, the ruling elite-driven process of tentative political and economic reform, and the newly found enthusiasm on the part of the international community for the promotion of democracy in the Middle East and North Africa following the fallout from September 11, 2001. The most interesting aspect of this volume is that the contributors examine these apparent novelties in the context of the ability of authoritarian regimes to survive and deal with perceived challenges.
It follows that when it comes to domestic political protest against the authoritarian nature of the state, opposition actors are quite quickly “managed” by the regimes in place through a number of strategies ranging from cooptation to repression. To a certain extent, the emergence of an “opposition” is not necessarily seen as a threat, but rather as an opportunity to gain international legitimacy, as long as this opposition does not threaten the stability of the regime and does not question the right of the unaccountable principal decision-maker to rule. Ultimately, some opposition actors become pillars of the regime, which manipulates them to remain solidly in power. A number of contributors, in particular Ellen Lust-Okar and Holger Albrecht, explain quite clearly how this process functions. Steven Heydemann's contribution is also extremely significant because it points to the ability of Arab regimes constantly to renew their social pacts with the population, absorbing many opposition issues and refreshing, as it were, their legitimacy in the eyes of citizens.
When it comes to analyzing the political and economic reforms that ruling elites have put in place, the volume's contributors seem to agree that such reforms have little real substance. Instead, such reforms are made either to allow the ruling elite to recapture a degree of legitimacy (façade political reforms) or to coopt new social groups with a stake in the survival of the regime because of economic benefits derived from the progressive integration of Arab economies into the global economy. It follows that the entrepreneurial class prefers authoritarian stability because its own economic success often is dependent on connections to the regime. Regimes in the region have been highly responsive to these social changes and have managed progressively to coopt a variety of emerging social groups.
When it comes to the democracy promotion strategies of the international community, both Eberhard Kienle and Mustapha Sayyid argue (quite convincingly) that such efforts are hardly genuine and ultimately help in reconfiguring authoritarian rule rather than promoting democratization. This analysis is not particularly novel. Criticisms of the pro-democracy policies of both the European Union and the United States are well-documented elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is essential to take into account how the international dimension can contribute decisively to the persistence of authoritarian rule by allowing Arab regimes to count on both material and legitimacy resources that can be used in the domestic political game to outplay opposition movements.
The analysis of Arab authoritarianism offered in this volume is truly excellent, with all contributors shedding light on the workings of Arab regimes and treating them as “stable” political systems rather than transitional ones. The book is a must-read for all those interested in political authoritarianism, the Middle East, and international relations. Policy-makers will also find analyses that question the effectiveness of current Western policies that might lead them to rethink how the West engages with the Arab world.
