Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-380) and index.

Interpretating change in the Arab world / Laura Guazzone and Daniela Pioppi -- Neo-liberal structural adjustment, political demobilization, and neo-authoritarianism in Egypt / Joel Beinin -- An analysis of political change in Lebanon in the light of recent mobilization cycles / Karam Karam -- Saudi Arabia's political demobilization in regional comparison: monarchical tortoise and republican hares / Steffen Hertog -- The political economy of authoritarianism in Egypt: insufficient structural reforms, limited outcomes and a lack of new actors / Ulrich G. Wurzel -- The Lebanese socio-economic system, 1985-2005 / Charbel Nahas -- Globalization and the Saudi economy: gains and losses / Tim Niblock -- Morocco's political economy: ambiguous privatization and the emerging social question / Myriam Catusse -- The security sector in Egypt: management, coercion and external alliance under the dynamics of change / Philippe Droz-Vincent -- The virtual sovereignty of the Lebanese state: from deviant case to ideal-type / Elizabeth Picard -- The Saudi security environment: plus ça change ... / Paul Aarts and Joris van Duijne -- Security policy and democratic reform in Morocco: between public discourse and reality / Issandr el Amrani -- The Arab state and neo-liberal globalization / Karen Aggestam ... [et al.]