Power, Resistance, Ideology and the State: Charles Tripp and the Comparative Politics of the Middle East

The work of Charles Tripp - professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for over three decades - has shaped a distinct approach to the study of Middle East politics: an analytical sensibility that is empirically rich, theoretically insightful, and historically sensitive. This volume brings together contributions from eleven political scientists and historians from across Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, each of which takes Tripp's work as an intellectual point of departure for studying politics in the region. The contributions focus on four central themes - power, resistance, ideology, and the state - that are central in the field of Middle East politics to examine political trends in cases ranging from Iran and Iraq to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Each chapter combines extensive field research and a knowledge of regional politics with methodological and philosophical reflexivity to produce a collection of papers at the cutting edge of contemporary Middle East Studies. Power, Resistance, Ideology and the State seeks to present a new understanding of a region of unprecedented volatility, where post-colonial projects of state-driven development have now expired, old ruling elites have been delegitimised, and political Islam discredited. Against this background, the contributors explore the contemporary developments that have emerged to fill the intellectual and material shortcomings created by the systemic failures of economics and politics in the region. Examining topics such as the rise of elite-promoted sectarianism in Iraq, thwarted attempts to manage neoliberalism in Lebanon, and new grassroots social movements in Syria, this volume offers a wide-ranging, innovative and essential exploration of the politics of today's Middle East.