ABSTRACT
This introduction to the volume briefly reviews the historic literature on parties, their structures, functions and development over time. It then surveys research on the role of parties in MENA particularly their weakness and the constraints on their roles in political systems; but also why they still widely exist and make a difference for the conduct of politics. In this literature MENA parties are assessed by whether they develop the structures needed to perform key political functions; how this reflects the changing social structure and developmental challenges of MENA societies; and the changing role of parties in different scenarios in the development of MENA politics, for example, across periods such as independence struggles, authoritarian single-party rule, limited political liberalisation and democratic transition. Finally, the chapter adumbrates how the contributions of the research contained in the book fit into and move beyond this accumulated literature.
