Sadowski, Yahya (1993), The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate. Middle East Report. No 193, pp 14-21.

Yahya makes the case that it is long past time for scholars to abandon the quest for mysterious ‘essences’ that prevent democratization in the Middle East but rather to focus on forces that promote or retard this process. Both traditional and neo-Orientalists analysis of civil society are deeply flawed as they claim that the key to building civil society in the region is the proper balance of power between the state and society in the Middle East. They disagree as to what the proper balance should be: the traditionalist claim that society must not be too weak while the neo-Orientalist argue that it should not be too strong. This is a simplistic view of both state and society. A more fruitful approach would be to focus on finding an optimal division of labor between state and society.