World Scientific Publishing Company Federal Solutions For Fragile States In The Middle East: Right-Sizing Internal Borders

In most regions of the world, federalism (territorial autonomy) is used as a successful institutional means of dispersing political power and accommodating ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity. The Middle East is an exception. Aside from the anomalous case of the U.A.E and Iraq\x27s troubled experiment with federalism, Middle Eastern regimes have largely resisted efforts to decentralize political power. As a result, the norm in the region has been highly centralized, unitary systems that have, more often than not, paved the way for authoritarian rule or played witness to serious internal fragmentation and conflict divided along ethnic or religious lines.<\/p>\nFederal Solutions for Fragile States in the Middle East<\/em>\x26nbsp;makes an argument for the implementation of federalism in the post\-conflict states of the Middle East. The argument operates on two levels: the theoretical and the practical. The theoretical case for federalism is backed by empirical evidence, but to accurately evaluate the practical and logistical feasibility of its implementation in any given case requires detailed knowledge of \x26#34;real world\x26#34; political realities. The book\x27s focus is on four post\-conflict states \x26mdash; Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Libya \x26mdash; though the arguments advanced within have broad regional applicability.<\/p> About the Author Liam Anderson is professor of political science at Wright State University's School of Public and International Affairs where he teaches classes on international and comparative politics. His research focuses on the design of political institutions to manage societal divisions, specifically within the context of Iraq and the broader Middle East. He is the author of eight books and numerous scholarly articles that have appeared journals like Comparative Political Studies, International Security, Middle East Policy, and Ethnopolitics. Vaughn Shannon is professor of political science at Wright State University's School of Public and International Affairs. He obtained his PhD in political science at Ohio State University. His main areas of research and teaching are international relations, international security, political psychology, and Middle East politics. He is author of Balancing Act: US Foreign Policy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (2003), and has published in various journals including International Studies Quarterly, International Organization, Security Studies and Foreign Policy Analysis. His most recent work on the effects of role-play simulations on perceptions of the Muslim world has been published in International Studies Perspectives (2020).