Social Dictatorships: The Political Economy of the Welfare State in the Middle East and North Africa (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780198834274)

Why have social spending levels and social policy trajectories diverged so drastically across labour-abundant Middle Eastern and North African regimes? And how can we explain the marked persistence of spending levels after divergence? Using historical institutionalism and a mix of qualitative
and quantitative methods Social Dictatorships: The Political Economy of the Welfare State in the Middle East and North Africa develops an explanation of social spending in authoritarian regimes. It emphasizes the importance of early elite conflict and attempts to form a durable support coalition
under the constraints imposed by external threats and scarce resources.

Social Dictatorships utilizes two in-depth case studies of the political origins of the Tunisian and Egyptian welfare state to provide an empirical overview of how social policies have developed in the region, and to explain the marked differences in social policy trajectories. It follows a
multi-level approach tested comparatively at the cross-country level and process-traced at micro-level by these case studies.


Author: Ferdinand Eibl
ISBN-10: 0198834276
ISBN-13: 9780198834274
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 03/27/2020
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.63lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.00w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2021