Clement Moore Henry is Professor of Government at the University of Texas, Austin. His publications include The Politics of Islamic Finance (2004) and The Mediterranean Debt Crescent: A Comparative Study of Money and Power in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey (1996). Robert Springborg is Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. Until August, 2008 he held the MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he also served as Director of the London Middle East Institute. Professor Springborg's publications include Legislative Politics in the Arab World (1999), Mubarak's Egypt: Fragmentation of the Political Order (1989) and Family Power and Politics in Egypt (1982).

'… the book provides readers with a deep analysis of economic decision-making processes in a number of country cases, and it is particularly successful in highlighting the reasons behind the economic success of democratic countries vis-à-vis authoritarian regimes. The framework the authors establish throughout the study is useful for comprehending the political economy of development in the MENA region.' Yusuke Kawamura, New Middle Eastern Studies

• 1. The globalization dialectic; 2. The challenges of globalization; 3. Political capacities and local capital; 4. Bunker states; 5. Bully praetorian states; 6. Globalization monarchies; 7. Precarious democracies; 8. Conclusion.