Review: Miscellaneous: Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East
| Published date | 01 June 2003 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800212 |
| Date | 01 June 2003 |
| Author | Marie-Joëlle Zahar |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
Pearson
presided
over
the
completion
of
Canada's
transformation
into
a
social welfare
state,
and
it
had
a
cost.
The
cost
may
well
have
been
the
sacrifice
of
a
forceful
foreign policy.
Even
the drastic
budget
cutting
of
the
1990s
(some
of
whose
effects
Cohen
describes)
took
place
in
the
context
of
saving
as
much
as
possible
of
Canadians'
social
welfare
pro-
grammes while
sacrificing
national
defence
and
foreign
aid.
The
cut-
ters
of
1994
and
1995
may
have
been
right or
wrong
in
what
they
did,
but
it
would
be useful
to
look
at
the
choices
they
had
before
them
and
their
reasoning
as
they
cut.
Cohen's
book
thus
does
not
do
all
it
could
or
should.
It's
a
pity,
for
his
graceful
style
and
his
encyclopaedic
knowledge
should
have
added
up
to
a
more
authoritative
and more
forceful
book.
Robert
Bothwell/University
of
Toronto
MISCELLANEOUS
GLOBALIZATION
AND
THE
POLITICS OF
DEVELOPMENT
IN
THE
MIDDLE
EAST
Clement
M.
Henry
and
Robert
Springborg
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
Press
2001,
xxi,
258
pp,
£45.00
cloth,
ISBN
0-521-62631-5, £14.95
paper,
ISBN
0-521-62312-X
f
economic
globalization
is
the
driving
force
in the
contemporary
world,
how
do
Middle
Eastern
and
North
African
(MENA)
countries
fare
as
they
develop
policies
to
'contend
with the
threats
and
opportu-
nities'
of
this
trend?
In
this
volume,
Henry
and Springborg
manage
a
'tour
de
force'
by
combining
insightful
theoretical
analysis
with intri-
cate
quantitative and
qualitative
details
of
the
states
and
societies
under
examination.
Their
conclusion
may
not
be novel
but it
is
important:
countries
that
have
gone
furthest on
the
road
to
democratization
stand
the
best chance
of
developing
effective
policies
to respond to
globaliza-
tion
and
improve
economic performance.
The structural
power
of
global
capital
markets
is
irrefutable
yet
MENA
regimes
still
hesitate
on
the
way
to
go.
Henry
and Springborg
warn
that
such
hesitations
may
not
only
have
'severe
opportunity
costs'
but
that
they may
ultimately
'tilt
the domestic power
balances
more
in
the direction
of
civil
societies
and
away
from
states'
(p 98).
422
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
2003
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