ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the paradoxical challenge of using opposition as the independent variable to explain the durability of the Arab state in the 1970s and 1980s. It explores that any government seeks to move from the extreme of oppositional majority to approach as closely as possible the opposite pole of total support. Both government and opposition have interests to pursue within the political system, and this complementarity of pursuit reinforces the state. The stability in the contemporary Arab state is explained not only by the government's handling of opposition but also by the opposition's handling of itself and government by using case studies of number of different states such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia. The argument of this analysis has been that the stability of contemporary Arab regimes can be partly explained by a complementarity of roles, expectations and activities between government and oppositions which provides support for the polity.
