5.5. The Surprising Stability of the Arab Monarchies

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The Emergence of the Modern Middle East - Part II

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Tel Aviv University

The Emergence of the Modern Middle East - Part II

264 оценки

This course will discuss the developments in the Middle East from the early 20th century to the present. It will discuss the rise and retreat of Arab nationalism, the problems of internal cohesion of the Arab states, issues of religion and state, and the evolution of Islamist politics. It will also focus on the evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and its impact on the region and will conclude with an in depth analysis of the “Arab Spring” by placing these contemporary revolutionary events in their historical context. Please note that this course builds upon a previous course - The Emergence of the Modern Middle East - Part I (https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-middle-east-1/home/welcome) Learn about the history of the Middle East for a deeper understanding of current regional developments!

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WEEK 1

Independence and revolutionary politics in the Arab world

V. Arab Independence and Revolution1:48

5.1.1 Egypt: Crisis and Revolution - Part 18:25

5.1.2 Egypt: Crisis and Revolution - Part 26:21

5.2.1 Iraq from the Overthrow of the Hashemites to Saddam Hussein - Part 18:18

5.2.2 Iraq from the Overthrow of the Hashemites to Saddam Hussein - Part 27:29

5.3.1 Syria's Prolonged Instability - Part 18:29

5.3.2 Syria's Prolonged Instability - Part 28:15

5.4.1 Lebanon's Civil Wars - Part 17:28

5.4.2 Lebanon's Civil Wars - Part 29:55

5.5. The Surprising Stability of the Arab Monarchies3:37

5.5.1.1 The Surprising Stability of the Arab Monarchies: Jordan - Part 19:06

5.5.1.2 The Surprising Stability of the Arab Monarchies: Jordan - Part 27:57

5.5.2 The Surprising Stability of the Arab Monarchies: Saudi Arabia8:13

5.6 The Arab Cold War2:16

Познакомьтесь с преподавателями

Professor Asher Susser
Senior Research Fellow
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies

Having discussed the revolutionary experiences of the

republics, what is especially surprising in the

Middle East of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s is the stability of the Arab monarchies.

It was the monarchies that were expected to be bowled over one after another.

But it is for the most part the monarchies

that have been the most stable states in the region.

Some observers have argued that the strength

of the monarchies lies in their wealth.

While that is probably true for most of

them, countries like Saudi Arabia or the gulf states.

It is obviously not true in a case like Jordan.

Jordan is a poor country, relatively speaking, but a very stable one at that.

Others have noted that the authority of royal families, like in Jordan, Saudi

Arabia or Morocco, stems from their integral role in the

nation building and state formation processes in their respective countries.

One of the most salient explanations for the stability

of the monarchies, especially in countries that have very

strong tribal traditions, like Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the

gulf states, is the deep-rootedness of the dynastic principle itself.

Hereditary succession has been an accepted long-established practice

for centuries, in many parts of the Middle East.

From the nomadic tribes to the Muslim Caliphates, and the Ottoman Sultanate.

As for the Hashemites, those who are in power in Jordan, their dynastic legitimacy

is reinforced by their being descendants of the prophet Muhammad himself.

These, needless to say, are assets with regard to legitimacy.

But they do not guarantee these regimes political immunity.

After all, monarchies were indeed overthrown in rapid succession as we have

seen in the Middle East of the 1950s and the 1960s.

But the military regimes that replaced

the monarchies have generally been dismal failures.

The ruling officers, lacking the ancestral authority of the monarchs, base their

legitimacy on the promised attainment of power, prestige, and prosperity.

They never delivered, and were subsequently faced in the Arab

Spring with rebellions on the part of their disillusioned peoples.

The monarchs never promise their peoples messainic

deliverance on a Nasserist or a parity model.

Rather from Hussein in Jordan in his early years

to Abdullah the present king of Jordan now, the Hashemites have offered

nothing more ambitious than securing a better life for all Jordanians.

But by comparison with other regimes in the neighborhood, they have actually

delivered, as attested to most recently by the hundreds of thousands of

Syrians who have been flocking to Jordan to take refuge in the Jordanian

haven from the mess of Syrian civil war in recent years.

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