Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa

The first book in English on the law and politics of federalism and decentralization in the MENA region.

Asl? Ü. Bâli (Edited by), Omar M. Dajani (Edited by)

9781108831239, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 January 2023

376 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.8 cm, 0.79 kg

This volume, the first of its kind in the English language, examines the law and politics of federalism and decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa. Comprised of eleven case studies examining the experience across the region, together with essays by leading scholars providing comparative and theoretical perspectives and a synthetic conclusion by the co-editors, the volume offers a textured portrait of the dilemmas of decentralization during a period of sweeping transition in the region. The collection addresses an important gap in the comparative decentralization literature, which has largely neglected the MENA region. Both retrospective and forward-looking in orientation, the book is a valuable resource not only for scholars of comparative politics, constitutional design, and Middle East studies, but also for policy makers evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of decentralization as a vehicle for improving governance and responding to identity conflict in any part of the world.

1. Introduction: from revolution to devolution? Asl? Ü. Bâli and Omar M. Dajani
Part I. Theoretical and Comparative Context: 2. Decentralization to manage identity conflicts Philip G. Roeder
3. Devolution and the promotion (or evasion) of minority rights Will Kymlicka
4. Constitutional design options for territorial cleavages in the Middle East Tom Ginsburg
5. How decentralization efforts have recentralized authority in the Arab world Mona Harb and Sami Atallah
Part II. Decentralization and Governance Reform: 6. Decentralization, ideology, and law in the Islamic Republic of Iran Kian Tajbakhsh
7. Salvaging state legitimacy in Iraq through decentralization Ali Al-Mawlawi
8. Decentralization Reforms in post-revolution Tunisia: the struggle between political and bureaucratic elites Intissar Kherigi
Part III. Decentralization and Self-Determination: 9. Autonomy beyond the state Joost Jongerden
10. The Devil is in the details: Iraqi Kurdistan's evolving autonomy Peter Bartu and Aidan MacEachern
11. Turkish Kurdistan: decentralization reimagined Asl? Ü. Bâli
12. Control, responsibility, and the Israeli-Palestinian decentralization debacle Sari Bashi
13. 'Stuck together': can a two-state confederation end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Omar M. Dajani and Dahlia Scheindlin
14. 'Dans ses frontiers authentiques'? Morocco's advanced regionalization and the question of Western Sahara Omar Yousef Shehabi
Part IV. Decentralization, Conflict, and State Fragmentation: 15. Devolution and federalism in collapsed states: constitutional process and design George Anderson and Sujit Choudhry
16. The promise – and limits – of stabilization through local governance in Libya Karim Mezran and Elissa Miller
17. Decentralization in state disintegration: an examination of governance experiments in Syria Samer Araabi and Leila Hilal
18. De-centralization in Yemen: the case of the federalist draft constitution of 2015 Benoît Challand
Part V. Conclusions: 19. Federalism and decentralization in the MENA region: types and trajectories Asl? Ü. Bâli and Omar M. Dajani.

Subject Areas: Public international law [LBB], International law [LB], Comparative law [LAM], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Law [L], Comparative politics [JPB]