When scholars mix qualitative and quantitative methods, one of them usually gets short-changed. Ferdinand Eibl's book is a rare exception to this rule: his field research is of as high quality as his quantitative analysis. He has undertaken remarkable detective work through interviews with decision-makers and access to (now closed off) national archives, getting as close to elite decision-making as is humanly possible in authoritarian systems. At the same time, he
has collected unique primary data to identify the long-term distributional consequences of these decisions across the MENA region. His findings are of great relevance for scholars of both authoritarianism and social policy.
Ferdinand Eibl is a Lecturer in Political Economy at King's College London. He was previously a Postdoctoral Research Officer at the London School of Economics, and his research focuses on the political economy of authoritatian rule in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular in the areas of distributive politics, cronyism, and the political economy of coup-proofing.