Political time and leadership in the Middle East: an analysis of 22 prominent leaders

Abstract

Who are the most notable and successful political leaders in the Middle East? Employing the concept of political time and through a survey of textbooks and popular history books relating to the region, 22 prominent individuals are identified in the modern period (i.e. since 1800). All were male and half of them came from the regional core (i.e. Egypt and the Mashreq countries). The leaders mainly came from the establishment and the armed forces. They mostly exercised power during the second half of the twentieth century. Many of them governed for long periods of time. Half of them were forcibly removed from office. The reasons for their removal were for political rather than economic reasons; there was little difference in economic performance between leaders who were forcibly removed and those who were not. However, one distinction between the two types of leaders was over their level of public spending. Those who kept government spending over 20% of GDP were less at risk. Ultimately, what made a political leader successful involved the following: an ability to act independently; avoiding forcible removal from office; and his political regime surviving his departure.