ABDO BAAKLINI, GUILAIN DENOEUX, AND ROBERT SPRINGBORG, Legislative Politics in the Arab World: The Resurgence of Democratic Institutions (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Reinner, 1999). Pp. 287. $59.95 cloth, $22.50 paper.

Abstract

In Legislative Politics in the Arab World, Abdo Baaklini, Guilain Denoeux, and Robert Springborg provide a long-overdue and important step toward understanding legislative institutions in the Arab world. In the first part of this work, they redirect scholars' attention to Arab legislatures, which they argue both reflect and affect the “dynamics of democratic transition and consolidation in the Arab world” (p. 6). In the second part of the book, they provide detailed case studies of legislative institutions in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, and Yemen. Throughout the book, they leave us with the simple but important message: “Arab legislatures matter.”