Keywords
Abstract
The paper takes up the topic of absolute power rampant in the Arab region, tracing its root causes by answering the following questions: What are the crucial factors responsible for absolute power as a phenomenon in the contemporary state of Arabia? Is it something about the culture prevailing across the Arab countries and the religious structure inherited from Islam? Or does it have to do with the modern state model brought from the West and therefore with how this model operates and interacts outside its original environment? Unlike relevant explanations mainly based on cultural factors and traditional religious structure or any other ones, the paper goes on to say that the phenomenon of authoritarianism prevailing in the Arab governance environment is primarily attributable to factors related to the emergence of modern State. Despite their similarity to the traditional tyranny represented by the old pattern of rule throughout the Arab history like sultanism, the existing tyranny and the authoritarian nature of modern State are characterized by the ability of modern State to organize society structures to have access to an effective monopoly on the sources of power and wealth. The modern bureaucratic state has great potential to penetrate society and coordinate its structures. The European societies as home to the nation-state were able to control the state's authoritarian tendency by establishing legal and constitutional arrangements for selecting governments based on societies’ free election and will. On the other hand, their Arab counterparts have failed to do so, thus empowering the State to penetrate society and then control it to build absolute power. This issue can be resolved only by developing constitutional and legal regulations to limit the state’s authoritarian tendencies. Nevertheless, this counts on having an active civil society capable of working on this question under oligarchic interests and privileges based on tyranny and repressive practices against society.