In the late 1980s Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia began to experience the trend toward economic liberalization and politicaldemocratization taking place at the time in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Misguided economic policies,bureaucratic mismanagement, political corruption, and cultural alienation combined to create a popular demand for change. It seemed for a time that a new and more open politics would transform the region. Instead, authoritarian states mobilized to repress the populist opposition led by politicized Islamist movements. Analyzing developments over the last two decades from the perspectives of political culture and political economy, America's leading scholars of North Africa provide insights into the region's continuing political crisis.Contributors are Lisa Anderson, Dale F. Eickelman, John P. Entelis, Clement M. Henry, Mark Tessler, Susan Waltz, John Waterbury, John O. Voll, and I. William Zartman.