ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the theory of all Arab-Islamic societies are naturally or culturally incompatible with democracy has pervaded Orientalist literature for decades. The division of the overall analysis of political transition in the South Mediterranean into two parts, one dealing with the Maghreb and the other with the Mashreq, has no scientific significance. The erosion of the state and its legitimacy is central to the socio-political evolution of the states in the region. The military and bureaucratic outgrowths of the state apparatus as well as the absolute monopoly over the political and institutional apparatus have guaranteed total control of an Arab society which is often described as fragmented, de-structured and lacking integration and political culture. The Islamist movement's intimate involvement in socio-political dynamics and its presence in the history of each Middle Eastern state mean that the phenomenon cannot be isolated from its context.
