Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary University, in Herzliya, Israel, and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA). His latest book is The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (2005). He is currently Abensohn Professor at American University in Washington, D.C.
January 2006, Volume 17, Issue 1
Whether ethnic, sectarian, or some combination of the two, communalsim is one of the massive realities of Middle Eastern life and politics. It is usually seen as an obstacle to democracy, but need that always be the case?
