ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how a few Arab countries have conducted successful policies of modernisation in order to promote inter alia the arrival of modern capitalism, or the market economy. Weber's study gives little information about the modernisation of Islam since 1800, as he concentrated upon the original and medieval Islam to the neglect of modern Islam. The Arab state is typically described as authoritarian, a strong state in a weak society, following Migdal's concepts. The modernisation project initiated in Arabia in the nineteenth century was without doubt a state-led effort. The Islamic world was prepared for the arrival of modern capitalism towards the middle of the nineteenth century, especially the Arab countries. The relationship between modernisation and democratisation has been much researched. The classes behind democracy are the middle classes and the working classes – this is an undeniable fact about the process of democratisation in Western Europe.
