Regional studies and comparative politics: the example of the Middle East and North Africa.

The article focuses on regional studies and comparative politics in the Middle East and North Africa. The logic of a regional approach to comparative politics is clear: by limiting comparison to a geographical area composed of countries with more or less important shared characteristics, the researcher is able to control many variables and to concentrate on fewer. Geographical contiguity is evidently neither the only nor necessarily the best means to define a relatively homogeneous universe. Yet, geographical contiguity often also implies certain shared cultural, historical and socio-economic similarities. This is particularly the case for the Middle East and North Africa, extending from Morocco to Afghanistan; where there are twenty-two independent states, eighteen of which are Arab countries, the others being Turkey, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, and Afghanistan. Despite the enormous extent of the area and its obvious diversity, the countries within it share important common characteristics. One such characteristic is Islam; all the countries of the region, except Israel are populated by Muslim majorities, and whatever its variations, Islam is a powerful factor in their politics. The second is shared historical experience. Thirdly, all of the countries of the region, again with the possible exception of Israel, can be broadly defined as developing or "modernizing" societies. The socio-economic modernization, which these societies are undergoing has obvious implications for their political systems.