Description: This volume, the first of its kind in the English language, examines the law and politics of federalism and decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa. Comprised of eleven case studies examining the experience across the region, together with essays by leading scholars providing comparative and theoretical perspectives and a synthetic conclusion by the co-editors, the volume offers a textured portrait of the dilemmas of decentralization during a period of sweeping transition in the region. The collection addresses an important gap in the comparative decentralization literature, which has largely neglected the MENA region. Both retrospective and forward-looking in orientation, the book is a valuable resource not only for scholars of comparative politics, constitutional design, and Middle East studies, but also for policy makers evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of decentralization as a vehicle for improving governance and responding to identity conflict in any part of the world.
Brief description: Aslı Ü. Bâli co-chairs the Advisory Council for the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch, chairs the Middle East Studies Association's Global Academy and serves as a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. She is also co-editor of Constitution Writing, Religion and Democracy (Cambridge, 2017).