Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World

Regimes, Oppositions, and External Actors after the Spring

Subjects: Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Behavior and Public Opinion
Paperback : 9780472055371, 488 pages, 6 figures, 9 tables, 6 x 9, October 2022
Hardcover : 9780472075379, 488 pages, 6 figures, 9 tables, 6 x 9, October 2022
Open Access : 9780472902965, 488 pages, 6 figures, 9 tables, 6 x 9, October 2022
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Long-term effects of the Arab Spring

Table of contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
PREFACE
Hicham Alaoui
Introduction Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World: Regimes, Oppositions, and External Actors after the Spring
Hesham Sallam, Lisa Blaydes, and Amr Hamzawy
I. Regime Strategies of Control
Chapter 1 Authoritarian Narratives and Practices in Egypt
Amr Hamzawy
Chapter 2 The People Vs. the Palace: Power and Politics in Morocco since 2011
Samia Errazzouki
Chapter 3 Kuwait’s Changing Landscape: Palace Projects and the Decline of Rule by Consensus
Farah Al-Nakib
Chapter 4 The Decay of Family Rule in Saudi Arabia
Michael Herb
Chapter 5 Syria’s Repressive Peace
Samer Abboud
II. Opposition Mobilization Strategies and Obstacles to Reform
Chapter 6 Mobilization without Movement: Opposition and Youth Activism in Jordan
Sean Yom
Chapter 7 Cycles of Contention in Lebanon
Lina Khatib
Chapter 8 Algeria: Anatomy of a Revolutionary Situation
Thomas Serres
Chapter 9 The Nexus of Patronage, Petrol, and Population in Iraq
David Siddhartha Patel
Chapter 10 Understanding the Roots, Dynamics, and Potential of an “Impossible” Revolution: The Prospects and Challenges of Democratization in Sudan
Khalid Mustafa Medani
Chapter 11 Tunisia: The Challenges of Party Consolidation and the Specter of Authoritarian Reversal
Lindsay J. Benstead
Chapter 12 Examining Yemen’s Post-2011 Trajectory: From Reform to War to Many Yemens
April Longley Alley
III. Transnational Influences
Chapter 13 U.S. Influence on Arab Regimes: From Reluctant Democracy Supporter to Authoritarian Enabler
Sarah Yerkes
Chapter 14 Chinese Soft Power Projection in the Arab World: From the Belt and Road Initiative to Global Pandemic Response
Lisa Blaydes
Chapter 15 Iran’s Culture Wars in the Arab World
Abbas Milani
Chapter 16 The Arab Counter-Revolution: The Formation of a Regional Alliance to Undermine the Arab Spring
Toby Matthiesen
Chapter 17 Myths of Expansion: Turkey's Changing Policy in the Arab World
Ayça Alemdaroğlu and Gönül Tol
Conclusion: The Ongoing Struggle for Political Reform in the Arab World
Larry Diamond
List of Contributors

Description

The advent of the Arab Spring in late 2010 was a hopeful moment for partisans of progressive change throughout the Arab world. Authoritarian leaders who had long stood in the way of meaningful political reform in the countries of the region were either ousted or faced the possibility of political if not physical demise. The downfall of long-standing dictators as they faced off with strong-willed protesters was a clear sign that democratic change was within reach. Throughout the last ten years, however, the Arab world has witnessed authoritarian regimes regaining resilience, pro-democracy movements losing momentum, and struggles between the first and the latter involving regional and international powers.
     This volume explains how relevant political players in Arab countries among regimes, opposition movements, and external actors have adapted ten years after the onset of the Arab Spring. It includes contributions on Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Tunisia. It also features studies on the respective roles of the United States, China, Iran, and Turkey vis-à-vis questions of political change and stability in the Arab region, and includes a study analyzing the role of Saudi Arabia and its allies in subverting revolutionary movements in other countries.

Lisa Blaydes is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University.
Amr Hamzawy is the Director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Hesham Sallam is a Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law in the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University.

“With analytical distance now possible, the contributors to this volume show something more subtle than the simply failed revolutions. Instead, they probe ways in which regimes have significantly evolved but also how politics and contestation continue in ways that seem to compensate in persistence what they may sometimes lack in drama.”
—Nathan Brown, George Washington University

- Nathan Brown

“A spectacular and timely volume that is both theoretically rigorous and empirically rich. Drawing on sophisticated case studies from across the Middle East, this volume systematically analyzes developments ten years after the Arab Spring.”
—Amaney A. Jamal, Princeton University

- Amaney A. Jamal

”This is an outstanding collection of essays on the post-2011 political struggles across the Arab world. The chapters feature first rate work by top notch scholars, with empirically rich and sharply analytical examinations of the region's turbulent politics.”

—Marc Lynch, George Washington University

- Marc Lynch

"An unusually strong collection, this volume showcases writing by some of the best scholars working on politics in the Arab world today, all of them at the top of their game. These essays together offer a thorough and sophisticated examination of the political change and contestation that has shaped the decade after the uprisings in 2011, from Algeria to Sudan."
Foreign Affairs

- Lisa Anderson

Read: Review in Foreign Affairs | 03/01/2023 | Link