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Indirect Governance and Power Dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa

Edited by Youssef Mnaili

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Published 28 February 2027

About this book

Examines the tensions between MENA rulers and the third-party actors on which they depend to enact effective governance

  • Draws on archival sources and original fieldwork from Iran, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel/Palestine
  • Features contributions from key regional scholars in the field
  • Integrates qualitative and quantitative analysis to offer the first systematic comparison of MENA governance structures

This volume introduces the theorisation of indirect governance to the scholarship on the Middle East and North Africa. It argues that MENA governance – maintaining order, enforcing laws, revenue collection, the management of religion, and military engagements – necessitates the delegation of authority to third parties. A central theme is the tension between rulers and their intermediaries: as third-party actors grow more capable and entrenched, they accumulate influence that can gradually escape the grasp of those who empowered them. Drawing on original data from Iranian and Syrian archives, fieldwork in Tunisia, Iran, Israel/Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, and original research in Jordan and Egypt, the volume explores why certain governance configurations endure while others falter. In doing so, it offers a novel perspective on the rise of authoritarianism, tribalism, the politics of religion, civil-military relations, and political violence in the MENA region.

Table of contents

List of Figures
Notes on Contributors

  1. Beyond State Weakness: Indirect Governance and the Architecture of Rule in MENA
    Youssef Mnaili
  2. In-Built and State-Built Networks: Varieties of Governance through Fiscal Means
    Anil Duman, Anastasiia Soboleva
  3. Purging and Restaffing the Civil Service: Factional Struggles and Bureaucratic Dilemmas in Revolutionary Iran (1979-1982)
    Guillaume Beaud
  4. Tribal Fractionalization and Protest in Jordan
    Ammar Shamaileh
  5. The Predicament of Religious Governance in Post-2011 Tunisia: Between State Withdrawal and State Monopoly
    Théo Blanc
  6. Disentangling the Syrian Civil War System of Delegation
    Jakob Frizell
  7. Losing Control by Design: Religious Zionism and the Indirect Governance of the Israeli Army
    Youssef Mnaili
  8. Conclusion – Indirect Governance: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Transformations
    Olivier Roy

Index

About the author

Youssef Mnaili

Youssef Mnaili is a Researcher at the Faculty of Governance, Economics and Social Sciences (FGSES), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, and Associate Researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) in Johannesburg. Dr. Mnaili is the author of Israel's Occupation of the West Bank: Indirect Governance, Settlers and Violence (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2027) and has written articles in journals like Politics & Society and Review of International Studies. Additionally, Youssef is founding editor of the book series Rethinking Governance (Amsterdam University Press/Central European University Press) and serves as Editor of the journal Settler Colonial Studies.