Mirages of Reform (S. 15, Ep. 2)

On this week's episode of the podcast, Steven Monroe of the National University of Singapore joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World.  Monroe uses the case of Jordan to discuss the broader failures of economic reform across the Middle East. He develops a theoretical framework focused on the ability of connected elites to shield themselves from the effects of reforms enacted on paper. The liner notes for this episode focus on the political economy side of the ledger. We already highlighted a wide range of books about Jordan in our recent episode on Sean Yom's Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible.  Anyone interested in Monroe's topic should also read Yom's book, as well as Curtis Ryan's Jordan and the Arab Uprisings, Jillian Schwedler's Protesting Jordan, and Scott Williamson's The King Can Do No Wrong. On Jordanian/Palestinian identity politics, my book State Interests and Public Sphere: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity. On the failures of economic reform, Peter Moore's Doing Business in the Middle East is in many ways a direct ancestor of Mirages of Reform, and still highly relevant today.  The same is true for Melani Cammett's Globalization and Business Politics in the Middle East, Clement Henry and Robert Springborg's Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East, and the authoritative textbook authored by Cammett and Ishac Diwan (taking over from Alan Roberts and John Waterbury for the fourth edition), A Political Economy of the Middle East. On this week's episode of the podcast, Steven Monroe of the National University of Singapore joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World.  Monroe uses the case of Jordan to discuss the broader failures of economic reform across the Middle East. He develops a theoretical framework focused on the ability of connected elites to shield themselves from the effects of reforms enacted on paper. POMEPS Director Marc Lynch recommends that anyone interested in Monroe's topic and political economy should read Sean Yom's book Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible, as well as Curtis Ryan's Jordan and the Arab Uprisings, Jillian Schwedler's Protesting Jordan, and Scott Williamson's The King Can Do No Wrong. On Jordanian/Palestinian identity politics, Marc Lynch's book State Interests and Public Sphere: The International Politics of Jordan's Identity. On the failures of economic reform, Peter Moore's Doing Business in the Middle East is in many ways a direct ancestor of Mirages of Reform, and still highly relevant today.  The same is true for Melani Cammett's Globalization and Business Politics in the Middle East, Clement Henry and Robert Springborg's Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East, and the authoritative textbook authored by Cammett and Ishac Diwan (taking over from Alan Roberts and John Waterbury for the fourth edition), A Political Economy of the Middle East. Amr Adly's Cleft Capitalism traces similar dynamics in Egypt, while Steffen Hertog's Locked Out of Development: Insiders and Outsiders in Arab Capitalism, Robert Kubinek's Making Democracy Safe for Business, and Ferdinand Eibl's Social Dictatorships expand the scope to multiple countries.