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Introduction: the role of MENA business in policy-making and political transitions

Hertog, Steffen ORCID: 0000-0002-6758-9564 (2013) Introduction: the role of MENA business in policy-making and political transitions. In: Hertog, Steffen, Luciani, Giacomo and Valeri, Marc, (eds.) Business Politics in the Middle East. Hurst Publishers (London, England), London, UK, pp. 1-16. ISBN 9781849042352

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Abstract

Although most Arab countries remain authoritarian, many have undergone a restructuring of state-society relations in which lower- and middle-class interest groups have lost ground while big business has benefited in terms of its integration into policy-making and the opening of economic sectors that used to be state-dominated. Arab businesses have also started taking on aspects of public service provision in health, media and education that used to be the domain of the state; they have also become increasingly active in philanthropy. The ‘Arab Spring,’ which is likely to lead to a more pluralistic political order, makes it all the more important to understand business interests in the Middle East, a segment of society that on the one hand has often been close to the ancien regime, but on the other will play a pivotal role in a future social contract. Among the topics addressed by the authors are the role of business in recent regime change; the political outlook of businessmen; the consequences of economic liberalisation on the composition of business elites in the Middle East; the role of the private sector in orienting government policies; lobbying of government by business interests and the mechanisms by which governments seek to keep businesses dependent on them.

Item Type: Book Section
Official URL: http://www.hurstpub.co.uk/
Additional Information: © 2013 The editors and contributors
Divisions: Government
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited: 15 Oct 2012 08:38
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 17:22
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/46741

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