Over the last decade or so, academic and non-academic observers have focussed mainly, if not exclusively on the institutions and places of formal power in the Greater Middle East, depicting politics in the region as a small area limited to local authoritarian rulers.

Introduction - L. Anceschi & G. Gervasio Part I Redistributing Power Relations through Informal Alliances 1. In-formalized Polity and the Politics of Dynasty in Egypt and Libya - Larbi Sadiki 2. Beyond the Party: The Shifting Structure of Syria's Power - Lorenzo Trombetta 3. Power and Clanism in the Occupied Palestinian Territory- Massimo Alone 4. When Informal Powers Surface: Civic Activism and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution- Gennaro Gervasio & Andrea Teti 5. Informal Institutions in Turkish Politics: The Case of Proxy Leadership- Gokhan Bacik Part II Radicalization and Conflict 6. Radicalism or Revolution? Power and Resistance in Iran- Arshin Adib-Moghaddam 7. Beyond 'Culture' and 'Tradition' in Sudan: The Role of the State in Reinventing Darfur's Tribal Politics- Noah R. Bassil 8. Protests and Public Power in Post-Saddam Iraq: The Case of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Union- Benjamin Isakhan 9. Rebuilding the State from Below: NGO Networks and the Politics of Civil Society in Somalia- Valeria Saggiomo Part III Resistance, Co-optation, Centralization 10. Apolitical Civil Society and the Constitutional Debate in Morocco- Emanuela Dalmasso11. An Invisible and Enduring Presence: Women in Egyptian Politics- Lucia Sorbera 12. Feudal Control of Politics in Peripheral Turkey: the Example of the Sanliurfa Province- Michelangelo Guida 13. Authoritarian Informality: Elite Centralization in Turkmenistan- Luca Anceschi 14. Informality, Knowledge and Power: The Disciplinary Politics of Civil Society and Democracy- Andrea Teti