The debate over whether the political development of the Arab world is exceptional has been going on since before the collapse of the Eastern bloc governments. Arguments and approaches based in economic or cultural determinism, or even conspiracy theory, were adduced to explain the exceptional condition of the Arab world: Western schemes for domination, oil, Islam or simply 'the Arab mind'. Instead of resorting to such essentialism, we should rather attempt to uncover forces that improve or decrease the chances for political reform or democratisation in the Arab states and Iran. Though outside powers cannot successfully engage in social and political engineering in the states of the region, Western actors can decide whether they want to make life more difficult for their actual and potential partners in the region by making them the object of their policies, or whether they want to make their task easier through credible political, societal and economical engagement.