Description
Alternative forms of government and statehood exist in the Middle East and North African regions. The chapters in this volume demonstrate this and explore the notion of power from a non-statist perspective, highlighting the limits of states and their governance.
Using empirical evidence from Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Iraq, Yemen, and Mali, the authors explore non-standard cases where power may be retained by a state but must be shared with a number of local actors, resulting in limited statehood and hybrid governance, which leads to competition and sharing of symbolic and political power within a state.
This book is intended to prompt a critical reflection on the meaning of governance. It will illuminate informal structures which deserve attention when studying governance and power dynamics within a state or a region. This book was originally published as a special issue of Small Wars & Insurgencies.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction - Limited Statehood and its Security Implications on the Fragmentation Political Order in the Middle East and North Africa Abel Polese and Ruth Hanau Santini
2. From Westphalian Failure to Heterarchic Governance in MENA: The Case of Syria Raymond Hinnebusch
3. ‘What is in a Name?’: The Role of (Different) Identities in the Multiple Proxy Wars in Syria Christopher Phillips and Morten Valbjørn
4. Competitive Statehood in Libya: Governing Differently a Specific Setting or Deconstructing its Weak Sovereign State with a Fateful Drift Toward Chaos? Philippe Droz-Vincent
5. Between the Cracks: Actor Fragmentation and Local Conflict Systems in the Libyan Civil War Andrea Carboni and James Moody
6. Security Assistance in a Post-interventionist Era: The Impact on Limited Statehood in Lebanon and Tunisia Ruth Hanau Santini and Simone Tholens
7. Hizbullah’s Shaping Lebanon Statehood Daniel Meier
8. Recognizing Fragmented Authority: Towards a post-Westphalian Security Order in Iraq Damian Doyle and Tristan Dunning
9. Competing for Control over the State: The Case of Yemen Maria-Louise Clausen
10. A Dangerous Method: How Mali Lost Control of the North, and Learned to Stop Worrying Edoardo Baldaro
