The Only Democracy in the Middle East is a compelling narrative non-fiction that offers a glimpse into Israel’s backstage, behind the tinseled tourism hype and worn Zionist clichés. Centered on the life of a former IDF staff captain and Israeli electoral candidate named Shaul Elkeslasi, the book is a scathing exposé that documents his confrontation with the grim realities of Israeli political deception and abuse. In punishing detail it exposes the inner workings of a state very different from the enlightened republic Israel is thought to be—a ruthless rogue regime whose bloody machinations with the Jewish people since Zionism’s inception have been kept airtight thanks to the axiomatic claim that Israel is a democracy. In the utopia envisioned by Israeli Deep State, every citizen would be born with the knowledge that Israel’s designation as a democracy is euphemistic. However the idiosyncrasies of human nature such as they are, there will always be Israelis who believe what they are taught and entertain the offensive notion that every private citizen has the right to run for office; that government was created to serve the people; that freedom of speech is an elementary right; that freedom of religion is mandated by the rule of law. That law and rights and freedoms exist. As stride confidently into the public square, they have no idea that they’re trespassing on the private property of a mafia compound. And by the time they know, it’s too late—even to warn someone else. The present chronicle has one purpose: to expose the anarchy and moral decadence that define Israeli government today, so that the next time an Israeli citizen chooses to exercise the fundamental liberties guaranteed in a democracy, he won’t find himself in the grave with a bullet in his head.

A comprehensive assessment of the origins and staying power of Middle East autocracies, as well as a sober account of the struggles of state reformers and opposition forces to promote civil liberties, competitive elections and a pluralistic vision of Islam. Drawing on the insights of some 25 leading Western and Middle Eastern scholars, the book highlights the dualistic and often contradictory nature of political liberalization. Yemen suggest, political liberalization - as managed by the state - not only opens new spaces for debate and criticism, but is also used as a deliberate tactic to avoid genuine democratization. In several chapters on Iran, the authors analyze the benefits and costs of limited reform. There, the electoral successes of President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies inspired a new generation but have not as yet undermined the clerical establishment's power. By contrast, in Turkey a party with Islamist roots is moving a discredited system beyond decades of conflict and paralysis, following a stunning election victory in 2002. force for change. While acknowledging the enduring attraction of radical Islam throughout the Arab world, the concluding chapters carefully assess the recent efforts of Muslim civil society activists and intellectuals to promote a liberal Islamic alternative. Their struggles to affirm the compatibility of Islam and pluralistic democracy face daunting challenges, not least of which is the persistent efforts of many Arab rulers to limit the influence of all advocates of democracy, secular or religious.

The United States faces no greater challenge today than successfully fulfilling its new ambition of helping bring about a democratic transformation of the Middle East. Uncharted Journey contributes a wealth of concise, illuminating insights on this subject, drawing on the contributors' deep knowledge of Arab politics and their substantial experience with democracy-building in other parts of the world. The essays in part one vividly dissect the state of Arab politics today, including an up-to-date examination of the political shock wave in the region produced by the invasion of Iraq. Part two and three set out a provocative exploration of the possible elements of a democracy promotion strategy for the region. The contributors identify potential false steps as well as a productive way forward, avoiding the twin shoals of either reflexive pessimism in the face of the daunting obstacles to Arab democratization or an unrealistic optimism that fails to take into account the region's political complexities. Contributors include Eva Bellin (Hunter College), Daniel Brumberg (Carnegie Endowment), Thomas Carothers (Carnegie Endowment), Michele Dunne (Georgetown University), Graham Fuller, Amy Hawthorne (Carnegie Endowment), Marina Ottaway (Carnegie Endowment), and Richard Youngs (Foreign Policy Centre).

This book provides a new theory for how democracy can materialize in the Middle East, and the broader Muslim world. It shows that one pathway to democratization lays not in resolving important, but often irreconcilable, debates about the role of religion in politics. Rather, it requires that Islamists and their secular opponents focus on the concerns of pragmatic survival—that is, compromise through pacting, rather than battling through difficult philosophical issues about faith. This is the only book-length treatment of this topic, and one that aims to redefine the boundaries of an urgent problem that continues to haunt struggles for democracy in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

In the Middle East, turmoil has spread quickly. Oppression, inequality, and violence have been keyed in to the very makeup of its society. But what causes a culture to emerge and prosper or stagnate and fail? How can the people take charge of their own inalienable rights to growth, freedom, and life—to keep from backsliding into the grasp of old, unhealthy ideologies and meet their need for ascendance? In Elza Maalouf’s groundbreaking new book Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy in the Middle East, we are introduced to a new paradigm for governance based on Clare Graves’ theory of Spiral Dynamics. Maalouf, the founder of the Center for Human Emergence and the Build Palestine Initiative, is an expert on the application of Spiral Dynamics in the Middle East. By placing democracy in an evolutionary, values-system context that is specific to unique, Middle Eastern characteristics, Emerge pioneers the foundations for necessary change. Where the West’s approach to conflict resolution has failed due to lack of memetic understanding, Maalouf’s framework for decoding the complexities of the Middle East succeeds. By weaving together the threads that make up the pattern of each culture, Emerge shows the crucial role memes play in creating a system of governance that truly fits. Not only does Emerge ask us to seek understanding before we structure and create, it shows us the necessity of teaching our youth to build their own sustainable, indigenous constructs.

While the Arab uprisings have overturned the idea of Arab "exceptionalism," or the acceptance of authoritarianism, better analysis of authoritarianism’s resilience in pre- and post-uprising scenarios is still needed. Modern Middle East Authoritarianism: Roots, Ramifications, and Crisis undertakes this task by addressing not only the mechanisms that allowed Middle Eastern regimes to survive and adapt for decades, but also the obstacles that certain countries face in their current transition to democracy. This volume analyzes the role of ruling elites, Islamists, and others, as well as variables such as bureaucracy, patronage, the strength of security apparatuses, and ideological legitimacy to ascertain regimes’ life expectancies and these factors’ post-uprisings repercussions. Discussing not only the paradigms through which the region has been analyzed, but also providing in-depth case studies of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran, the authors arrive at critical conclusions about dictatorship and possibilities for its transformation. Employing diverse research methods, including interviews, participant observation, and theoretical discussions of authoritarianism and political transition, this book is essential reading for scholars of Middle East Studies, Islamic Studies and those with an interest in the governance and politics of the Middle East.

Taking a comparative approach, this book considers the ways in which political regimes have changed since the Arab Spring. It addresses a series of questions about political change in the context of the revolutions, upheavals and protests that have taken place in North Africa and the Arab Middle East since December 2010, and looks at the various processes have been underway in the region: democratisation (Tunisia), failed democratic transitions (Egypt, Libya and Yemen), political liberalisation (Morocco) and increased authoritarianism (Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria). In other countries, in contrast to these changes, the authoritarian regimes remain intact (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Arab United Emirates.