About the Book: The Dilemma of Popular Sovereignty in the Middle East: Power
from or to the People?
The ongoing political turmoil in the Middle East as a whole would seem to be
essentially a contest between the minimalist and maximalist positions on popular
sovereignty: should power merely come from, and be exercised in the name of, the
people? Or, should those in power be fully accountable to the people? The
dilemma warrants a closer look. The present volume comes out of an international
conference held in Calcutta, India organised by the Institute of Foreign Policy
Studies and the Centre for Pakistan and West Asian Studies, University