The Economic and Political Context

Abstract

During the twentieth century Middle Eastern tribal societies evolved into forms ranging from monarchies to republics. As they changed, they shared one feature—the tendency to concentrate power in a single ruler or president. In the fourteenth century, Ibn Khaldun (1967) wrote that it was in the nature of states to concentrate authority. Arab states in particular, he said, were founded on solidarities formed by the union of groups. When one group became more powerful than the rest, its leaders dominated other leaders.

History is a continuous chain of events. The present is only an extension of the past. He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future, for it is from our past that we learn.

—Shaikh Zaid