In the decade that followed the 2011 democratic uprisings, events in the Middle East have brought the long-term governance challenges confronting Arab states, Iran, Turkey, and Israel to the forefront of scholarly and policy discussions.
As these governments have sought to contend with persistent social and economic problems, the structural and institutional flaws in the region’s dominant governance frameworks have become more apparent. Despite widespread aspirations for more effective and inclusive governance, most Middle Eastern states have continued to lag in meeting popular expectations. Demographics are making this challenge more urgent—more than 60 percent of Middle Eastern populations are under twenty-five. They are the most frustrated with the current lack of opportunity and innovation, they are highly connected on social media, and they will be entering the job market in increasing numbers in the coming decade. If Middle Eastern states do not generate more and better jobs, more responsive governance, and new channels for voice and participation, they will inevitably face new forms of political instability. This is the fundamental challenge for the Middle East in the coming decade: how to modernize and improve governance.
To be sure, patterns of governance are changing in several Middle Eastern countries. The question is whether they are changing enough, and in the right ways. In some countries, governance issues have been delegated to security agencies and military bodies, sidelining specialized civilian bureaucratic institutions. Other governments have deferred to the expertise of technocrat-dominated cabinets and relevant bureaucratic bodies in implementing public policies designed to tackle socioeconomic challenges while curbing corruption. Some governments have embarked on noteworthy initiatives to modernize state institutions and shield them from long-standing religious, ethnic, and tribal influences. And while some governments continue to exclude social movements, civil society organizations, and political parties from public policymaking processes, others have shown willingness to negotiate and offer them meaningful concessions in limited areas pertaining to resource distribution and taxation policies.
What lessons can be learned and generalized from these different approaches that might offer a way forward to more effective, inclusive, and sustainable patterns of governance? These questions were at the core of my research at Cairo University, at the Free University of Berlin, and at Carnegie before 2011, and have continued to inform my work at the Stanford University Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law in recent years.
Carnegie’s Middle East Program seeks to undertake new, innovative, scholarly research to offer a nuanced understanding of the long-term governance challenges confronting the societies of the region and the varying degrees of success and failure of different policies and practices. The program will also continue to examine a wide spectrum of strategies that Middle Eastern governments can implement to address governance challenges.