A Conceptual Map for Comparison of State Formation and Nation-Building in the Middle East 1870–1918 ^*

Abstract

This study employs Stein Rokkan's methodological approach to analyse state formation in the Greater Middle East. It develops a conceptual framework distinguishing colonial, populist and democratic pacts, suitable for analysis of state formation and nation-building through to the present period. The framework relies on historical institutionalism. The methodology, however, is Rokkan's. The initial conceptual analysis also specifies differences between European and the Middle Eastern state formation processes. It is followed by a brief and selective discussion of historical preconditions. Next, the method of plotting singular cases into conceptual-typological maps is applied to 20 cases in the Greater Middle East (including Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey). For reasons of space, the empirical analysis is limited to the colonial period (1870s to the end of World War 1). Three typologies are combined into one conceptual-typological map of this period. The vertical left-hand axis provides a composite typology that clarifies cultural-territorial preconditions. The horizontal axis specifies transformations of the region's agrarian class structures since the mid-19th century reforms. The right-hand vertical axis provides a four-layered typology of processes of external intervention. A final section presents selected comparative case reconstructions. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such a Rokkan-style conceptual-typological map has been constructed for a non-European region.

Citation

Mjøset, L., Meijer, R., Butenschøn, N. and Harpviken, K.B. (2024), "A Conceptual Map for Comparison of State Formation and Nation-Building in the Middle East 1870–1918 ^* ", Mjøset, L., Butenschøn, N. and Harpviken, K.B. (Ed.) A Comparative Historical and Typological Approach to the Middle Eastern State System (Comparative Social Research, Vol. 36), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-158. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0195-631020240000036004