The Kingdom of Bahrain is the smallest Arab country. An island emirate in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain is located east of Saudi Arabia and west of Qatar. It is a constitutional monarchy headed by King Sheikh Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa. The head of government, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, is the prime minister, and presides over a cabinet of fifteen members. Islam is the official religion of the state.

Bahrain has been ruled by the Al-Khalifa family since the eighteenth century. The family consists of more than 3,000 members—all of whom have received an allowance since birth—in a...

Over the last two years, Egypt has witnessed large demonstrations led by new democratic civil society movements, including Kefaya (Enough), the Judges Club of Egypt, journalist advocacy groups, civil society coalitions, and other human rights activists. These groups have championed a number of causes, including an independent judiciary, contested presidential elections, presidential term limits, and the annulment of emergency law. While most of these demands have yet to be met, some gains, as exemplified by the 2005 presidential and parliamentary elections, have been made.

However, it remains to be seen whether or not this surge of democratic fervor will succeed...

Iraq’s new permanent constitution—the eighth constitution in the history of modern Iraq—was created in 2005. This is also the second permanent constitution to have been predicated on a moral crisis—quite similar to the crisis spawned by Iraq’s first constitution, the 1925 Basic Law. In both cases, a core Iraqi group—one of Iraq’s various ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups which are now referred to in Iraq’s political lexicon as the “structures of the Iraqi people”—rejected the constitution. The Shi’a’s rejection of the 1925 constitution paralleled their negative stance toward all political systems that emerged after the...

The strong showing of Shi’ite Islamists in Iraq’s first ever genuinely democratic elections in January 2005 and then again in December 2005—they won nearly half the seats in the National Assembly—confirmed their position as the most powerful faction in Iraq and the driving force in the construction of a new state.

Whether or not Iraq becomes a beacon for democracy and liberty in the Middle East will be determined by the Shi’ite Islamists. However, can Islam ever be compatible with democracy? Some argue that Islamists are intrinsically antidemocratic and once in office, they would not give up power...

After violent protests over fuel price hikes in April 1989, the Jordanian leadership redoubled its reform efforts. The late King Hussein restored free parliamentary elections, ended martial law, and legalized political parties. But despite these aspects of political life, and some freedom of expression and press, the Jordanian system does not allow for true alternation of executive power.

The strength of the security apparatus prevented the need to create a ruling party; the regime maintained control by other means. No true centrist, conservative, or liberal parties with any social or parliamentary weight emerged. Those in power channeled the participation of...

Jordan is often touted as a potential model for democratic transformation and political reform in the Arab world and the Middle East. Surrounded by countries experiencing conflict or promoting reckless and tension-creating policies, Jordan is starved of both water and oil, with at least half of its population of Palestinian descent; among this segment of the population, many are still living in refugee camps.¹ The country is also host to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates and refugees. Yet this small kingdom has charted a decades-long path of stability, moderation, and tolerance.

Over the past three years, King Abdullah II...

For the first time in more than thirty years, the Lebanese are masters of their own destiny. Either the Lebanese will succeed in creating a system of individual rights and an independent government that upholds basic human rights, or they will squander the rare opportunity to restore the right to live freely in an independent country. The question at hand is distinctly Lebanese: how can various sectarian or national groups live equally and differently?

Under the Ottoman Empire, the Druze and Maronite populations of the Lebanese Emirate required a governing structure unique in Ottoman-controlled lands. As a result, the area...

Lebanon is among the smallest states in the Arab world and also among the most diverse and open societies in the region.¹ According to a 1986 estimate by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, its population was 41 percent Shi’ite, 27 percent Sunni, 16 percent Maronite, 7 percent Druze, 5 percent Greek Orthodox, and 3 percent Greek Catholic.² Such data, though, are at best informed estimates, as the last census in Lebanon was in 1932.

Lebanon’s position on the Mediterranean Sea has helped shape its cosmopolitan culture and outlook. The 1975–1990 civil war and subsequent Israeli and Syrian occupation inalterably...

In 2005, Lebanon saw six devastating assassinations. It also gained its independence. The Lebanese today face both tremendous opportunities for progress and unfortunate impediments to reform. Lebanon has long sought to maintain a fragile equilibrium between religious factions (though a state of non-equilibrium has existed for most of the country’s modern history), but it now has the chance to use regional and international circumstances to reconstitute its country—to unify it around stronger and more stable democratic principles. Sectarianism has perpetually caused conflict and instability for the three to four million inhabitants of Lebanon.¹ Eighteen official religious sects have run...

Despite Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi’s international rehabilitation, the Libyan leader remains resistant to reform and intolerant of dissent. His ultimate goal—preservation of power—remains unchanged. His decision to abandon his weapons of mass destruction program was not a moral epiphany but rather a calculated attempt to launder his image in order to earn him an exemption from the U.S. effort to democratize the Middle East. So far, his strategy is working. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, for example, has licensed companies to enter into business with Libya.¹ Washington’s policy toward Libya is counterproductive, however. People across the...

For more than four decades, the Syrian regime has been characterized by tyrannical rule, corruption, and mismanagement. Many in the West expressed hope that Bashar al-Assad would reform Syrian governance. He did not. The last five years have witnessed further political and economic adventurism by the so-called New Guard. Their policies have led to a further narrowing down of the regime’s power base. State decision making has been reduced to a small and corrupt clique centered around the president and his immediate family members and friends.

The situation has changed in recent months, though. United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1636...

Yemen is at a turning point. In 2004, a bipartisan group of American scholars and advisors warned that Yemen was in danger of becoming a failed state.¹ In April 2005, then–World Bank president James Wolfensohn told the Yemeni government that time was running out and that Yemen risked abandonment by the world community. Neither the American scholars nor Wolfensohn referred to the downfall of the Yemeni government. Rather, their concerns were about the future of the state. Failure to reform should not be of concern only to the government; it should be an issue of vital importance to Yemenis...

Middle East Quarterly: What does the Parti Libéral Méditerranéen seek to achieve in Tunisia? What are its goals?

Hachicha: The Parti Libéral Méditerranéen, PLM, believes that democracy can strengthen national cohesion rather than create divisions and animosity within the population. Specifically, the Parti Libéral Méditerranéen aims to strengthen liberal political and economic views. For too long, we have endured a socialist economic system that facilitates dictatorship. We seek to educate both the people and the regime about the necessity of moving toward liberalism. We also aim to build popular support around the Maghreb Union, which should help us integrate into...