ABSTRACT

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, his discussion of praetorianism as representative of “certain stages of development” and his analysis of the social and political conditions contributing to a praetorian state clearly have wide applicability throughout the Third World. Political activity by the men on horseback within the Third World is often explained in terms of the societal crises of legitimacy and stability. From this broad perspective, it is both the fundamental weakness of the civilian institutions of state and their inability to legitimize their rule which provoke political action on the part of the military. In effect, Third World countries are often seen as praetorian states wherein “private ambitions are rarely restrained by a sense of public authority; [and] the role of power is maximized.”