Even today economic liberalization is widely supposed to replace the tyranny of the state with the freedom of the individual and, therefore, the uniformity of politics from above with the liveliness and colour of politics from below. Analysing developments in the Middle East, this book arrives at far less reassuring conclusions: that economic liberalization has failed to entail the continuous growth and widespread welfare gains expected by its proponents. By privileging privatization and crony-capitalism over competitive but regulated markets and political reforms, it has also failed to decentralize and democratize the allocation of resources be they material or symbolic and enable individuals to participate meaningfully in the production of social norms. The contributors include Roger Owen, Sami Zubaida, Valentine M. Moghadam, Jean-Noel Ferrie, Enid Hill, Ulrich G. Wurzel, Ray Bush, Baudouin Dupret, Cilja Harders, Armando Salvatore, Reem Saad, Nadje Sadig el-Ali, Amr Hamzawi, Fanny Colonna and Reinoud Leenders.