In the Middle East and Northern Africa, monarchs face substantial challenges opposing their rule. With democracy overtaking the rest of the world, MENA has struggled with maintaining its monarchies located in the region. Constantly plagued with the possibilities of militaristic coups or economic downfall, MENA monarchies are facing a possible extinction crisis. However, it must be investigated as to why this is occurring and why so rapidly at that, while also evaluating how these governments maintain their power.
The first and most prominent challenge Monarchies face is the threat of their own military. Coups have been a prominent occurrence in MENA with examples being Iran, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and more. Many of these country’s leaderships lacked legitimacy and struggled to demonstrate their lawmaking abilities as many did not have a policy making body of government. This leads to continuous doubt and criticism towards the monarch as without a congress or parliament, all the decisions fall upon whoever is monarch.
For the monarchs, this is a dangerous way to lead and conduct legislation as now, being the sole lawmaker, every-one will blame the monarch for every decision and piece of legislation made. Thus, resulting in unrest of the population towards the leader. So if the monarch does not change a series of unpopular decisions, the military could overthrow them and elect someone who makes the decisions the people or military wants.
The next challenge MENA monarchies face is that of the economy. mentions that in many of the monarchies within MENA rely on their abundant natural resources to remain prominent on the international stage and economy. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar are a few examples who’s monarchies rely primarily on their natural resource rents. Without these rents to foreign nations across the globe, the economy of these states would simply crash as they go without taxing their citizenry and would have no source of income to fund their regimes.
Without any monetary income their governments would suffer tremendously. The government have no legitimate bearing over their citizenry, officials, or military. It would lead to a scramble of power as these monarchs would have no ability to govern over others as their words and actions hold no weight because no money means no way to act upon decisions made by the monarchs.
Finally, Monarchs in MENA face the constant urge of reformation into Democratic regimes by foreign powers. The MENA monarchies are no strangers to outside interference in their domestic politics. Many large countries such as the USA, Russia, UK, etc. all attempt to influence MENA as a means to gain more influence within the region. Political liberalization has become a phenomena in northern MENA due to the actions of the USA within areas such as Israel and Kuwait. If continued, it can become widespread in MENA and the call for political reform can occur in the Monarchal regimes. But, to counteract this from occurring, the acceptance of small democratic decisions and social pluralism allows them to remain in the good graces of their people.
However, despite the challenges MENA monarchies face, they do have several ways to ensure their survivability and increase the successfulness of the country. Some of the benefits of the Middle East monarchies is their wealth, militaries, and influence to maintain a grip on the region. They more importantly have the adaptability to ensure their continued reigns for as long as possible.
The ability to adapt using their substantial wealth and resources has lead to the MENA states to last centuries, with some monarchal rules lasting thousands of years. An example is the Shah of Iran who was only recently overthrown in 1979 after a 2500 year monarchal reign. However, as resources continue to diminish, foreign powers grow in strength, and civil unrest in MENA continues, the future looks bleak for the monarchal regimes who have dominated the region for many centuries.
Biography:
Russell, Lucas. 2004. “Monarchical Authoritarianism: Survival And Political Liberalization In A Middle Eastern Regime Type” International Journal of Middle East Studies 36, 1: 103-119
Anderson, L. (2006). Searching where the light shines: Studying democratization in the Middle East. Annual Review of Political Science, 9(1), 189–214.
Ross, Michael Lewin. 2001. “Does Oil Hinder Democracy?” World Politics 53, 3. (Apr.): 325-361.
Webb, Ed. 2023. “The Monarchies’ Responses to the Arab Uprisings of 2011”, Class lecture, Authoritarianism and Change in the Middle East and North Africa, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, October 26, 2023.
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