Since 1992, the Civil Society in the Middle East program has commissioned more than two dozen studies that focus on the quality of political life in the region. This film provides a sampling of the findings of the project by combining interviews with five scholars from the Middle East with fascinating on-the-ground footage.

QUEST FOR CHANGE challenges the view that the Middle East is immune to the global trend of democratization, and deals specifically with the prospects for political reform. Key questions discussed include the viability of civil society as well as goals and practices of Islamists. The featured scholars (from Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey) hardly speak with a single voice; instead, they succeed in laying the groundwork for lively discussion of the prospects for democracy in the Middle East.

"Prevailing media impressions today of the Middle East stress the conflict between governments and Islamic fundamentalists. THE QUEST FOR CHANGE introduces an important corrective: the real struggle is a three-way one. While the authoritarian governments of Egypt and Algeria, for example, strive to suppress violent Islamists, an insistent demand for a greater voice in their own destiny is coming from the public at large... Thought provoking."—MESA Bulletin