ABSTRACT
The states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)1 were profoundly affected by the end of the Cold War and the challenges of adapting to the new, unipolar world order. Various expectations regarding the MENA region were promptly forwarded. To some, the focus was on the promise of democratization, as in the former Eastern Europe (Sadowski 1993; Hudson 1991). Democracy did not materialize, prompting others to examine the particularities of the region. Authors such as Samuel Huntington warned against the clash of civilizations between the Islamic civilization and the West (Huntington 1996). The US administration focused on the ‘rogue’ character of some MENA states and after 9-11, political attention to the democratic deficit and Islamism grew.
