Middle Eastern countries between political restructuring and macroeconomic flaws
Over the last two decades, most of Middle Eastern countries have embarked upon what is called “ neo-authoritarian restructuring ”, namely limited and reversible processes of liberalization aimed to shore up their authoritarian rule: from the overbearing role of the state in the economy to cronyism and neo-patrimonialism, state-society relations have shifted from populist mobilization of the middle and lower strata and inclusive socio-economic agenda to depoliticization of political discourse and the consequent diffusion of pro-reform and “technocratic” agenda. In this sense, elites and middle-classes, instead of being the key actors of political change in favor of more inclusiveness and participation, seem to constitute the pillar upon which regimes have restructured themselves. Cooptation of elites aside, to make things worse is that the only structured and organized opposition is political Islam, a force of conservation dressed up as progressive.