Abstract
The Middle East is a very hot geopolitical region. It has witnessed many different conflicts, some of which remaining unresolved. Although the middle-eastern countries are very different in terms of economic development, I believe they share a common pattern: the regimes are authoritarian in most of these countries.
And as Wiarda mentioned in his book Introduction to Politics, “Oil alone or foreign aid alone does not make for a successful economy or society. Their ‘Arab Socialism' has not been very successful and has served as a legitimizer for some rather authoritarian, even miserable, regimes. (...) None of them have successfully made a transition to democracy or even shown much of wanting to do so” (Wiarda, Introduction to Politics, 2000, p.156). As a matter of fact, the tensions that exist between and within middle-eastern countries arise from their failing political system. Algeria, according to Wiarda, is among the group of “poorer states (of the Middle East)” , along with Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
How presidential is the Algerian regime? In other words, how powerful is the President? Is the formal power (the president) the actual one?
