Hybrid Sovereignty in the Arab Middle East: The Cases of Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq [Paperback]

This book provides readers with a fresh analysis of the Arab state by using a new theoretical framework: hybrid sovereignty. The author examines various areas to make his argument: citizenship, the issue of minorities, electoral engineering, the failure of central rule, tribalism, and the lack of impersonal bureaucratic mechanism.The Theoretical Framework * The Genesis of Western Model in Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq * Kuwait: A Nation in the Minority * Jordan: The Competition of Different Constitutiencies * Iraq: Statehood in Catastrophe * Final Remarks and A Few Projects

Gokhan Bacik persuasively shows that the sovereign state in the Middle East can best be understood with a model of hybrid sovereignty , comprising the impact of the colonial past and traditional formations. While doing this he also leads the reader to question the conventional Westphalian formulation of sovereignty as a feature of state-to-state relations and instead brings an insight in terms of state-to-society relations. A fascinating attempt to look at the history of state formation in the Middle East through new eyes and from new angles. - Ahmet Nuri Yurdusev, Middle East Technical University, author of International Relations and the Philosophy of History and Ottoman Diplomacy: Conventional or Unconventional?

Bacik's clear, detailed, and convincing analysis provides crucial insights into the power and sovereignty of the state in Arab countries. This book deserves your attention.

- Fuat Keyman, Koc University, author of Globalization, State, Identity/Difference

G?khan Bacik is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Fatih University.