Routledge Middle East and North Africa: Governance, Democratization, Human Rights (Contemporary Perspectives on Developing Societies)

This collection contains articles by highly regarded scholars assessing governance, democratisation and human rights in the contemporary Middle East and North Africa. It also assesses the role that Islam plays in these areas. In the spirit of the 50th anniversary year of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the authors examine the interrelationships among Islam, politics and human rights and evaluate each country’s contemporary record. The book contains in-depth articles on Islam and politics, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the Gulf States, Turkey, Egypt and the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania). The authors discuss recent political developments in each of these countries and point out their accomplishments and shortcomings in the area of human rights. Review ’The book consists of original, innovative and insightful chapters written by recognized experts in the field. Scholars, decision-makers, policy advocates and others interested in the issues of human rights and governance will want this book on their reading shelf.’ Robert Olson, University of Kentucky, USA ’...offers a good chapter on Jordan...does an excellent job in showing the conspicuous discrepancy between the constitution/political discourse on human rights and practice ...quite informative.’ Middle East Studies Association