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"This work is fascinating, not only for its thorough review of events and analysis of developments of political systems in Syria and Iraq but also as a potentially valuable approach for examining parliamentary life in other Arab countries."—Middle East Journal

“History from a novel angle: the efforts to maintain a constitutional monarchy in Iraq and a parliamentary republic in Syria.”—Middle East Quarterly

“[A] stimulating study of parliamentary history. . . a unique contribution to the field. Rey’s book is an important read to anyone interested in Syrian political history. . . . [A] work of piercing historical analysis.” —Syrian Studies Association Bulletin

"[A]ccurate, profound, and poignant. . . . Rey’s analysis fills a large void in the literature and gives readers unprecedented access to the inner functioning of parliaments in Syria and Iraq. . . . When Parliaments in the Middle East is likely to set a novel, fresh trend in the field."—Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée

"Focusing on the efforts of bourgeois and middle-class elites to control and mitigate the pressures of social change in representative decision-making processes, Rey sheds light on the neglected history of parliamentarism in the Middle East between the late Ottoman Empire and the demise of liberalism under Ba‘th Party rule. This book will be a crucial reference for students and researchers alike."—Peter Wien, University of Maryland

"Matthieu Rey’s remarkably well documented monograph shows that dictatorship, massive state coercion, ethnic cleansing, sectarianism, and civil war were by no means inevitable. It also demonstrates that the Iraqi and Syrian pluralities could be preserved only by a democratic institutionalization that their respective political elites were unable to undertake." —Hamit Bozarslan, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

"Matthieu Rey highlights a period in the political history of Iraq and Syria when parliaments and constitutions played a major role, however fractured, in the formation and functioning of civil society and the public spheres, sometimes forgotten in the decades of authoritarian dictatorships that have since predominated."—Sami Zubaida, Birkbeck, University of London

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