The study of the Ottoman state in tĥe latter part of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth demands a broader analytical framework than hitherto used if its transformation and the social and political history of the Middle East, the Balkans, and even North Africa, which were parts of the Ottoman State at one time or other, are to be properly evaluated and interpreted.

The dictionary definition of ‘homeostasis’ is: ‘the tendency of an organism to maintain a uniform and beneficial physiological stability within and between its parts; organic equilibrium’. As applied to a political organism, it denotes the tendency of that organism to ‘maintain as much of its former condition as is practically possible’, however determined the attempts to alter its shape. In a paper presented to the meeting of the Middle East Studies Association of North America in 1967. I suggested that the principle of homeostasis was inherent in the Persian polity.Iran's ancient civilization has produced social attitudes and deeply ingrained characteristics which do not admit of rapid change,except by means of the disruptive force of violent revolution. The 2,500-year tradition of the Persian monarchy, a tradition fostered and preserved under a succession of alien rulers — Arab, Turk, Mongol, Tatar and Afghan - has given to the Persian polity, and to Persian society, an organic stability which places Iran in a category completely apart from most other countries in the Middle East, and from the majority of the so-called 'emerging' and 'underdeveloped'nations in general. As E. G. Browne noted at the time of the Persian Constitutional Revolution in 1906, the chief characteristics of the Persians are: (i) the stability of the national type and (ii) the power of national recovery.

The continuing tensions between ethnic groups and nationalism of the dominant population since independence have attracted world attention to the fact that in the Middle East serious ethnic problems exist regardless of the strong integrative character of the Islamic religion and culture. For centuries Islam has had the effect of moderating if not, obliterating racial differences among the peoples of the Middle East. However, although race is not a social problem in Muslim countries, ethnic differences are.

Since 1957, Najîb Mahfûz has been regarded as the most outstanding author of Egyptian fiction. He has won critical acclaim and widespread popularity. Mahfûz's works deal with Egyptian society, and even his symbolic or surrealistic stories, which have universal significance, are distinctly Egyptian in their settings, conflicts and characters.

As promotion of economic growth becomes a declared aim of policy-makers in less developed countries (LDC), more and more emphasis is placed on the public sector as an essential instrument of policy implementation. The public sector is considered more capable of inducing higher rates of savings and of channeling them into development-promoting outlets than the economy can do by itself. State Economic Enterprises (SEE) financed wholly or in large part through government budgets become the instruments of such policies. In an environment where the private sector invests mainly along traditional lines and is shy of long gestation periods, the absorption of modern technology depends on an ability to amass and channel large amounts of finance capital into productive ventures with relatively little direct short-run profitability. The absence of organized markets for equity capital so prevalent in LDC also points in the direction of the state's active participation in economic activities.

On 7 April 1971 Professor Roger LeTourneau died unexpectedly at Aix-en-Provence following routine surgery. A founding member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Professor LeTourneau had for over a decade taken an active role in encouraging the development of Middle Eastern Studies in the United States, especially in the growth of his field of specialization, the history of North Africa. His influence, both personal and professional, and his contribution to scholarship were exceptional.