The three types of laws used by Middle Eastern governments are Sharia, tribal, and civil laws. Most Middle Eastern governments use a combination of these three types of laws to form their legal systems.
The rights of Israeli citizens differ greatly from the rights of Iranian and Saudi Arabian citizens. The only similarity between the three countries is that they all offer citizens some degree of voting rights, but these rights vary among the nations. Israel and Iran allow both men and women to vote, while Saudi Arabia restricts voting to men only. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran both restrict the rights of their citizens to a great degree. In these countries there is little political participation, as political parties do not exist and supreme rulers, not citizens, decide on most aspects of government. Freedoms of speech, press, and religion are also very limited in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Israel's government provides citizens with a large degree of political participation. There are many different political parties to join, and freedoms like speech and religion are guaranteed by law.
Theories about what caused the Classic Maya collapse have ranged from overpopulation to ongoing military conflict between competing city-states to some catastrophic environmental event, such as an intense drought—or some combination of all of those factors.
