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This article investigates a specific type of cabinet government in the Arab Middle East and North Africa (MENA): the multiparty coalition. Although mostly associated with parliamentary democratic systems, coalition governments are not uncommon in the region, comprising in fact since 1990 a sizeable proportion of the cabinets formed post-election. Drawing on novel data collated by the authors, this article offers new macro-level comparative insights into some of the key parameters of coalition governance, including their formation, composition, and durability. In doing so, the article seeks not only to document and analyse the spectrum of multiparty governance in the Arab MENA but advance the development of a research agenda on the subject that, whilst sensitive to local context, engages critically with, and feeds into, the broader coalitions literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the Middle East and North Africa have very often relied on qualitative methodologies to understand and explain the politics of the region. In fact it could be argued that Middle East specialists have tended to shy away purposefully from engaging with quantitative methods because of the perceived 'exceptionalism' of the region in terms of the gathering and reliability of hard data. This article makes the case for increasing engagement with quantitative methodologies in order for studies on the Middle East to better 'speak' to comparative politics more broadly. Far from downplaying the significance and contribution of qualitative methods, this article encourages scholars to integrate them with quantitative methods that have been more recently developed to provide a fuller picture of politics in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irrespective of their final outcome, the Arab uprisings have changed the region profoundly with important consequences for external actors as well. Since 1995, the European Union has been extremely active in the Middle East and North Africa with a number of policies put in place to achieve often contrasting objectives. The uprisings have exposed the problems affecting these polices and have led the EU to rethink regional relations. The scholarship on EU-MENA relations has provided over time numerous and powerful insights into the workings, shortcomings and success of the EU in the region, but the uprisings demand a radical change in the way in which the MENA is approached. This review article looks at the contribution that the scholarship has made in this field and suggests a new research agenda, which could lead to better informed and more effective policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]