Coalition Formation in the Arab World: An Analytical Perspective

The purpose of the article is to examine the applicability of several well-known theoretical concepts from the theory of coalition formation. The attempt to apply the term winning coalition to the system of inter-Arab relations raises problems which derive from the fuzzy boundaries of the system, from the sovereign status of the states involved, and from difficulties in measuring the states’ respective weights. The attempt to apply coalition theories based on the idea of policy distance also proves unfruitful, since most inter-Arab coalitions are neither minimal range nor closed coalitions. Despite their dependency on the ideas of winning coalition and policy distances, however, the concepts of pivotal party and permissible coalition appear-when revised-applicable to coalitions in the Arab world. The analysis of coalition formation in the Arab world reveals the existence of three main types of coalitions: (a) declarative coalitions; (b) non-winning coalitions; and (c) minimal winning coalitions, which tend to be preventive in nature.