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CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article

Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Peace and Democracy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1486299
This article is part of the Research Topic Review Symposium: The Problem of Democracy View all 5 articles

The Problem of Governance

Provisionally accepted
Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili *
  • Center for Governance and Markets, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Shadi Hamid's The Problem of Democracy makes a compelling case for focusing on government over governance. Hamid's offers a view of a restrained American foreign policy in the Middle East that avoids falling into the trap of a crass isolationism or an overbearing imposition of liberalism. For all its insight, this essay makes a case that governance remains especially significant to promote peace and prosperity in fragile states. It also argues that minimalist democracy, where attempted, has not necessarily lived up to the promise Hamid sees for it.

    Keywords: governance, Democracy, fragile states, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Central Asia

    Received: 25 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Murtazashvili. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Center for Governance and Markets, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, 15260, Pennsylvania, United States

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