Introduction

The Middle East, a region defined by European colonial powers a century ago, has in general been controlled by authoritarian regimes. Although in the 1970s a number of countries in the Middle East began experiencing some democratic developments, these limited reforms, including relatively free elections in multiparty systems (albeit giving little space for the opposition), failed to change the region’s political structure. This political structure was accompanied by an economic structure based on crony capitalism, which did not change despite popular uprisings in the 1980s and a few political liberalization attempts in the 1980s. As for the democracy promotion policy launched by the United States and some other Western countries throughout the 1990s, it only helped authoritarian leaders consolidate their power via elections.