Rebuilding Devastated Economies in the Middle East

This book analyzes the political obstacles to the adoption of classic strategies of economic recovery and development, as well as the economic consequences of democratic political reforms. The case studies demonstrate that both "rentierism" and the "democracy deficit" result from a means-end problem rather than an ideological problem. The contributors focus on the role of the challenged rulers of shaky states where economic devastation has been the consequence of civil strife, often aided and abetted by external influences. But, if there can be no successful rebuilding of devastated economies, without some significant regime change, we seem to be asking these governments to put themselves out of business.