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106 Pol. Sci. Q. 1 (1991-1992)

handle is hein.journals/pclscceqry106 and id is 1 raw text is: Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East LISA ANDERSON The only major ruling monarchs in the world today reside in the Arab world, and they are conspicuous by their importance there. They rule more than a third of the countries of the Arab League. Taken together, the kings in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the sultan of Oman, and the amirs of the smaller Gulf states - Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates - have almost forty million subjects. They influence access to important strategic waterways- the Straits of Gibraltar, the Persian/Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea-and dispose of staggering financial resources. Several are major oil-producing states, of course, but even the non-oil-producing monarchies are recipients of substantial subven- tions from foreign friends and patrons. And these are only the survivors; just a few years ago the Middle East fairly bristled with crowns. Non-Arab Iran's shah did not fall until 1979, and kings reigned in Egypt until 1952, Iraq until 1958, Yemen until 1962, Libya until 1969. Despite the importance of this type of regime in the Middle East and North Africa, few political scientists have given it serious attention, exploring what its prevalence might suggest about politics in the region or about political develop- ment more generally. This neglect, all the more striking in light of the lavish atten- tion accorded the military regimes and one-party states of the area, is partly a result of the ease and frequency with which political scientists dismiss the Middle East as an exotic and intractable region, hardly responsive to ordinary compara- tive analysis. No doubt the neglect is also partly attributable to the largely un- spoken consensus among political scientists that monarchy is pass6. The inclina- LISA ANDERSON is associate professor of political science and director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. She recently published The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 and is currently working on a book on liberal politics in the Arab world. Political Science Quarterly Volume 106 Number 1 1991

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