Non-Institutional Governance, Ideology, and Redistribution: The Political Economy of Inequality in the Middle East

This paper examines the political economy of redistribution by analyzing how ideological commitments are translated into redistributive policies under conditions of non-institutional governance. While ideology provides normative justification for social justice, its practical effects are heavily mediated by governance structures. In contexts characterized by non-institutional governance—such as clientelism, electoral populism, and cronyism—redistributive commitments are often distorted, redirected toward particularistic groups, or neutralized. Using qualitative documentary analysis and secondary indicators of income inequality, poverty, social spending, and fiscal progressivity, this study demonstrates that non-institutional governance weakens the capacity of redistribution to reduce inequality. The paper contributes to political economy by highlighting governance structure as a key moderating variable linking ideology to redistributive outcomes in the Middle East