Introduction

The American invasion and occupation of Iraq in April 2003 ushered in a brief interval of extraordinary politics in many of the countries of the Arab world. American and European pressures on Arab regimes to democratize created a temporary political opening that opposition movements across the region used to press for far-reaching political and constitutional reforms. Arab regimes responded to these growing internal and external pressures to reform by making some concessions to their challengers. Saudi Arabia convened municipal elections for the first time in five decades (Menoret, 2005). Qatar promulgated a written constitution for the first time in its history, and Bahrain held parliamentary elections for the first time in 30 years (Cook and Fellow, 2004; Sengupta, 2002). In Egypt, Parliament amended the constitution to allow the first competitive presidential elections in Egyptian history; in Lebanon forces in the opposition took to the streets and forced the proSyrian government to resign and Syrian troops to pull out from Lebanon (Shehata, 2008). Finally, elections in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt, in 2005-2006, led to important electoral gains by opposition parties and movements.