Iliya Harik - Böcker

"This book is a highly valuable contribution to the current debate on how to achieve stabilization and structural adjustment programs in the Middle East presenting widely differing country profiles." —Digest of Middle East Studies"This book is an excellent collection of ten country case-studies by well-known Middle East political scientists . . . " —MESA Bulletin" . . . a highly original and valuable contribution on an important and most timely topic. . . . combines clarity of focus and breadth of geographic coverage." —Robert BianchiInternational specialists take stock of the problems and prospects for privatization of state-run economies and other liberalization efforts throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Although development at the local level is a primary goal of most assistance schemes, most development agencies and banks know little of politics at the local level in developing countries. As a result, assistance programs generally lack relevance to indigenous populations and are--at the community level--viewed as being controlled from the "outside." The authors of this book concentrate on how local politics influence development in the Middle East, with the intent of encouraging more appropriate--and thus more effective--assistance programs. They discuss general policy issues and the nature of center-periphery relations in Middle East countries and delve into specific problems encountered in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Tunisia, and North Yemen, showing how information about local political schemes can aid administrators of development programs in providing assistance that is acceptable--and accepted--at the local level. The case studies provide a broad base for planning, encompassing capitalist, state capitalist, and socialist systems in both rural and urban settings.