Marred by political tumult and violent conflict since the early twentieth century, the Gaza Strip was occupied by outsiders until 2005. It is still not ruled by a sovereign state. Given these circumstances, Gaza would seem too exceptional to be a revealing site for a study of government. Ilana Feldman proves otherwise. She demonstrates that a focus on the Gaza Strip uncovers a great deal about how government actually works, not only in that small geographical space but more generally. Feldman analyzes civil service in Gaza under the British Mandate (1917-1948) and the Egyptian Administration (1948-1967). In the process, she sheds light on how governing authority is produced and reproduced; how government persists, even under conditions that seem untenable; and how government affects and is affected by the people and places it governs.Feldman draws on archival research in Gaza, Cairo, and Jerusalem and two years of ethnographic research in Gaza involving interviews with retired civil se
