1. Political Systems (and finishing post-WWII)

2. Today • Quick Review of last class • Turkey, Iran, Egypt – how they used consolidation strategies I talked about last Thursday. • Nasser’s Egypt II, Iraq, Syria, Jordan in brief. • A Typology of Government Systems • Monday – 1970s through 1990s (& finish typology) • Thursday – Arab-Israeli Wars

3. Egypt • Free Officers Coup (1952) and RCC • Nasser consolidates power • Complex issues with British • 1954 War • Nasser’s Pan-Arabism and the UAR • Nasser’s socialism

4. Iraq • Hashemite Monarchy • Problems in the 1950s • Qasim’s coup in 1958 • Baath Party takes power in 1963 • Arif brothers • Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr

5. Syria • Legacy of French Mandate • Parliamentary system and political parties • Military intrusion • Michel Aflaq and Syrian Ba’athism • Hafez al-Asad takes power in 1970

6. Jordan • Assassination of King Abdullah in 1951 • Hussein takes power – coup attempts, assassination attempts, and internal war with the PLO in 1970 • Martial Law in 1957 • US support under Eisenhower doctrine

7. Possible Typology • 4 groups: • Nationalist Revolutionary Republics • Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia • Monarchies • Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Gulf States • Conditional Democracies • Turkey, Israel, Lebanon • Islamic States • Iran, Sudan

8. Nationalist Revolutionary Republics • Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia • Single-party rule • Exposure to intellectual currents of European state consolidation • Nationalism, some political liberalism, socialism • Soviet Union as capable model of dealing with challenges • European countries were seen as primary culprits of colonialism, US emphasized anti-communism > support of liberal democracy. • Political left (esp. socialist organizations) were most active at opposing colonialism  character of nationalism • Strong, centralized, bureaucratic state • -- Secularization - Western legal systems installed as opposed to indigenous or religious legal codes • Single-party dominance (often masked by multi-partism) • Personalistic Systems - Syria, Libya, Iraq, with dictatorial rulers and legislative bodies

9. Monarchies • Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Gulf States • Government ruled by a single person, power passed down hereditarily, separate from all other members of the state • ABSOLUTE vs CONSTITUTIONAL (limited) • 1950s and 60s saw 6 monarchies fall, but in all following decades only ONE has fallen (Pahlavi in Iran) • Economic strength in many of the monarchies allows consolidation of power through patronage and cooption • All have aligned with the West (Cold War Balance of Power) • Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman have same ruling family for more than two-hundred years! • Arab kingship not like Europe – gained legitimacy through capable leadership, few institutionalized succession processes, competition among successors  produces strong kings

10. Conditional Democracies • Turkey, Israel, Lebanon

11. Islamic States • Iran, Sudan