Legitimacy and economic reform in the Arab world

Abstract

In the 1970s Michael Hudson identified a crisis of regime legitimacy among the Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa. By the mid‐1980s that crisis had been compounded by economic failures and stresses across the region. Regimes have subsequently sought to address the economic problems by means of reform and structural adjustment. This article seeks to assess the impact of such measures upon regime and political system legitimacy within the region, identifying linkages between economic policy and political change. It concludes that apparent moves towards democratisation have been motivated largely by the need to contain political forces which threaten regimes in response to the negative impact of economic reform. Tactical political liberalisation by regimes is matched, however, by genuine developments within civil society which have led to the expression of popular dissatisfaction with regimes and political systems, indicating that the crisis of legitimacy is far from over for the Arab state.