Socio-Political Order and Security in the Arab World

Andreas Krieg is Assistant Professor for Defence Studies at King's College London. He is currently seconded to the defence academy of the Qatari Armed Forces in Doha. Dr Krieg's research in the field of security and conflict studies particularly focuses on the Middle East as a region in transition.

This book examines the connection between socio-politics and security in the Arab World. In an effort to understand the social and political developments that have been on-going in the Arab World since the 1990s, culminating in the Arab Spring, Krieg moves beyond liberal deterministic assumptions - most notably that the promotion of liberal values and democracy are the panacea for the structural problems of the region. Instead, this text advances the case that grievances related to individual security needs are at the heart of regional insecurity and instability. Looking towards the future, the author asserts that regimes can only be resilient if they are able to provide for individual security inclusively. When regimes fail to cater for public security, they might be replaced by alternative non-state security providers. 

Chapter 1: A new Approach to Conceptualizing Security in the Arab World.- Chapter 2: Patron-Protégé relations under the Old Regime.- Chapter 3: Traditional Civil-Security Sector Relations in the Arab World.- Chapter 4: The Arab Public Sphere - Challenging the Old Regime.- Chapter 5: Public Dissidence, the Security Sector and Regime Resilience.- Chapter 6: Alternative Patronage Systems - From Old Regime Failure to New Security Providers.- Chapter 7: Battling for a New Post-Revolutionary Order - New Security Providers in Syria, Libya & Yemen.- Chapter 8: Iraq - The Privatization of Security and the Rise of ISIS.