December 10th, 1997 marked the beginning of the 50th anniversary year of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This collection contains articles by highly regarded scholars assessing governance, democratisation and human rights in the contemporary Middle East and North Africa. It also assesses the role that Islam plays in these areas. In the spirit of the 50th anniversary year of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the authors examine the interrelationships among Islam, politics and human rights and evaluate each country’s contemporary record. The book contains in-depth articles on Islam and politics, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the Gulf States, Turkey, Egypt and the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania). The authors discuss recent political developments in each of these countries and point out their accomplishments and shortcomings in the area of human rights.