ABSTRACT
It was argued at the outset of this study that globalization has a much more limited meaning when taken outside its OECD context. While every state is vulnerable to it, and while every community and individual can feel its force, the presence that globalization has in any given setting is still determined by local, domestic conditions. While in the areas of telecommunications and international finance the full force of globalization is omnipresent, its broader domestic effects are still determined largely by state actors. States certainly do feel the pressures globalization brings to bear, but their responses are conditioned by national political and political economy realities and, in the case of the Middle East, regional geopolitical factors as well.
