The main objective of this research is to test some of the hypotheses linking economic development, social mobilization, legitimacy, and the coerciveness of the regime with internal political conflict. Each proposed hypothesis is to be tested across sixteen predominantly Islamic Middle Eastern nations for data from two time periods, 1960-66 and 1967-73. To check for the consistency and strength of the hypothesized relationships the test results for each hypothesis for the first period data will be compared with those of the second period.

This report discusses the political future of various countries in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. A change in the leadership in these countries could significantly affect their policies toward the United States and their willingness to cooperate with the United States in achieving the stability needed to advance U.S. interests in this important region.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about Sunday meeting of Arab oil ministers which may be postponed if arguments over the site of the meeting are not settled.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of the meeting of the Arab oil minister schedule in Tripoli, Libya has not been posted.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of a Syrian jetliner which is carrying five Palestinian terrorists and their hostages from Paris landed at Kuwait on the Persian Gulf after the pilot has been refused landing permission at other Arab nations.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about the Arab oil producers who are said to have decided to lift the oil Embargo against the United states.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of Britain who is said to be on the verge of finalizing an agreement with Saudi Arabia for arms for oil exchange.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of five Arab gunmen who are holding four hostages abroad a Syrian aircrafts surrendered to authorities in Kuwait ending a four-day drama that stretched from Paris to the Middle East.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir who delayed submission of her resignation as political colleagues called at her home to urge her to remain in office.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of Kissinger who has the backing of Egyptian president as he prepares to leave Washington on his fourth mission to the Middle East.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about an Egyptian official who says that the Arab oil countries have not agreed yet on where and when their oil ministers will meet to consider lifting the Embargo against the U. S.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about Egyptian president Sadat and five visiting Arab oil ministers who planned a meeting to discuss preventing an open quarrel over lifting the Arab oil embargo when they meet with other ministers in Libya.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story of Kissinger's statement about the Arab oil embargo which was mis-interpreted by many.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about Arab oil ministers who meet in Tripoli and Libya to discuss the issue of the oil embargo against the U. S despite earlier optimistic reports that the embargo would be lifted.

Script from the WBAP-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, relating a news story about Egypt' s semi official newspaper who gave another indication that Saudi Arabia considered the key to the Arab oil embargo against the U. S which is in favor of resuming oil shipments to America.

This comparative study assesses the state of democracy and examines the process of democratization in the Arab World between the years 1980-1993. It addresses shortcomings in the mainstream democracy literature that excluded the Arab World from the global democratic revolution on political cultural grounds. To fulfil the objectives of this study, I employ both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches to test a number of hypothesized relationships. I hypothesize that transition to democracy is negatively associated with economic development, militarism, U.S. foreign policy, the political economy of oil, and dependency. I contend that emerging civil society institutions so far have had no significant effect on democratization in the Arab World. Finally, I hypothesize that the level of democracy in the Arab World is influenced greatly by the issue of civil rights. In order to investigate the hypothesized relationships, the following data sets have been used: Gastil's Freedom House Data set, "Repression and Freedom in the 1980s" data set, and Vanhanen's 1990 data set. The findings of this study support the aforementioned hypothesized relationships. I find that Arab countries, in general have made modest progress toward democracy, making the Arab World part of the global revolution.