Doing Business in the Middle East: Politics and Economic Crisis in Jordan and Kuwait

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Note on transliteration and translation......Page 14
1 Summers of discontent: business–state politics in the Middle East......Page 15
Comparing cases and subjects......Page 19
A single logic, two approaches......Page 24
Rents and sectors in the Middle East......Page 27
The micro approach: collective action by business......Page 38
Contributions and framework......Page 41
Among equals: merchant–ruler relations and state creation in Kuwait......Page 44
Mubarak the Great and political rule under the British......Page 47
Merchant politics in the interwar years......Page 50
Oil and new business–state relations......Page 54
Political independence and the founding of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry......Page 60
The cabinet crisis and the National Assembly......Page 62
Business cohesion and relations with the state in the 1960s......Page 65
“Strangers with capital”: the first merchants......Page 71
Structure of business representation......Page 75
The Mandate period and growth of a rentier state......Page 76
State expansion from the time of independence and merchant–state relations......Page 81
Merchants in parliament......Page 84
Institution-building and institutional change......Page 86
Policy coordination and politics......Page 91
Conclusion......Page 95
Good times in Kuwait......Page 99
Endangering the pact: political industrialization, the stock market, and the new merchants......Page 101
Ramifications for business representation......Page 107
“Grabbing at a wild horse”: the breakdown of coordination......Page 108
War, rents, and state autonomy......Page 115
Political industrialization and a basis for new merchants......Page 119
Institutional dynamics: strains on collective representation......Page 123
Attempting policy coordination......Page 127
Conclusion......Page 132
Easy money and regrets in Kuwait......Page 134
The terrain of crisis politics: parliament and business as the opposition......Page 135
The expansion of policy participation......Page 139
The Manakh struggles......Page 142
Expanding coordination: resolving the debts and pursuing economic reform......Page 148
Consolidating business’s position: external and internal challenges in the 1990s and 2000......Page 152
Adjustment in Jordan......Page 159
Fiscal crises and state vulnerability in the 1980s......Page 160
“A head without a body”: business representation in Jordan......Page 161
The first reform opportunities in the 1980s......Page 166
Business, state, and limited political liberalization in the 1990s......Page 170
War and taxes......Page 174
Working to attract foreign investment......Page 181
A political economy of Jordan’s peace with Israel......Page 184
Conclusion......Page 188
5 Is business the solution?......Page 190
Addressing the alternatives......Page 192
Business, state, and economic liberalization in the Arab world......Page 194
Economic crisis, business representation, and the question of political reform......Page 199
Appendix Comparative associational data......Page 205
Select bibliography......Page 213
Index......Page 224