A definitive overview of what political scientists are working on within the Middle East and North Africa. The Arab Uprisings of 2011-12 catalyzed a new wave of rigorous, deeply informed research on the politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In The Political Science of the Middle East, Marc Lynch, Jillian Schwedler, and Sean Yom present the definitive overview of this pathbreaking turn. This is a monumental stocktaking organized around a singular theme: new theorizing from the MENA has advanced the frontiers of comparative politics and international relations, and the close-range study of the region occupies a core place in mainstream political science. Its dozen chapters cover an exhaustive array of topics, including authoritarianism and democracy, contentious politics, regional security, military institutions, conflict and violence, the political economy of development, Islamist movements, identity and sectarianism, public opinion, migration, and local politics. For each of these topics, leading MENA experts and specialists highlight innovative concepts, vibrant debates, diverse methodologies, and unexpected findings. The result is an indispensable research primer, one that stands as a generational statement from a regional subfield.

In The Political Science of the Middle East, Marc Lynch, Jillian Schwedler, and Sean Yom have developed a definitive, state-of-the-art overview of research on the topic. Collectively, a group of the world's leading experts and scholars of the Middle East summarize the breadth of political science research in the Middle East. They present major theoretical developments since the Arab uprisings, while giving an review of key debates and pathbreaking findings in contemporary political science research in the Middle East and North Africa.

It is a good corrective to certain dubious narratives and misconceptions that are picked up by the media, activists, or think-tank analysts who are often guided by ideology more than a solid understanding of the region's realities.