Qatar's much publicized liberalization campaign that began in the mid-1990s was a direct result of efforts by the new Amir, Shaykh Hamad, to compensate for his fragile base of support within the ruling Al Thani family by ...

There are three ideal types of revolutions: spontaneous, planned and negotiated. The role and importance of structural factors versus human agency vary according to the general category to which a particular revolution ...

This book offers a thematic analysis of the phenomenon of revolution. The twentieth century has been witness to a number of historic revolutions, beginning with the Mexican and the Russian revolutions at the turn of the ...

Focuses on the political and social factors contributing to the structural breakdown of the Pahlavi dynasty. Features include research compiled from personal interviews with former revolutionary leaders, cabinet ministers ...

The process of political consolidation in Azerbaijan has occurred largely under the auspices of an emerging system best described as "presidential monarchy." This has taken place following years of political turmoil and ...

The general dichotomy in developing economies between the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ economic sectors needs to be refined to account for the ‘semi‐formal’ sector: one whose activities appear to be governed by formal rules and ...

There has been a basic tension between the stated objectives of Middle Eastern leaders to integrate their countries into the world economy, on the one hand, and the actual, tangible levels of the integration, on the other. ...

Despite dangerously high tensions between the United States and Iran, which are rooted in the fundamentally different foreign policy objectives of each country, the risks of open hostilities between the two sides are ...

Comparative politics has undergone significant theoretical changes in recent decades. Particularly since the 1980s, a new generation of scholars have revamped and rejuvenated the study of the subject. Mehran Kamrava examines ...

Can the state-building currently underway in the region of the Palestinian Authority (PA) avoid the brutal dictatorships and lack of basic civil and political liberties that prevail throughout most of the Middle East? If ...