Since 2011, democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa have mostly failed to consolidate and have been hindered by the difficult economic heritage of previous authoritarian governments. Yet newly established democratic governments must deliver on the expectations…
On 25 January 2011, Egyptian police shot and killed Mustafa Ragab Mahmoud, a nineteen-year-old high school dropout, in the Arbayeen district of the Suez. Mahmoud, one of several thousand anti-Mubarak protesters who had taken to the streets that day, was the first martyr of the 2…
"On 25 January 2011, Egyptian police shot and killed Mustafa Ragab Mahmoud, a nineteen-year-old high school dropout, in the Arbayeen district of the Suez. Mahmoud, one of several thousand anti-Mubarak protesters who had taken to the streets that day, was the first martyr of the …
The Arab Spring unleashed forces of liberation and social justice that swept across North Africa and the Middle East with unprecedented speed, ferocity, and excitement. Although the future of the democratic uprisings against oppressive authoritarian regimes remains uncertain in …
"Why and how did Islam become such a political force in so many Muslim-majority countries? In this book, Jocelyne Cesari investigates the relationship between modernization, politics, and Islam in Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Turkey - cou…
"Post-revolution states often find that once a transition process begins, challenges can arise, such as political polarization and the threat of civil war. A respected commentator on Middle Eastern politics, Ibrahim Fraihat compares three countries grappling with political trans…
The revolutionary wave that swept the Middle East in 2011 was marked by spectacular mobilization, spreading within and between countries with extraordinary speed. Several years on, however, it has caused limited shifts in structures of power, leaving much of the old political an…
"America is turning away from support for democrats in Arab countries in favor of "pragmatic" deals with tyrants to defeat violent Islamist extremism. For too many policy makers, Arab democracy is seen as a dangerous luxury. In Democracy and Realism, Elliott Abrams marshals four…
"Just a few short years ago, the "Turkish Model" was being hailed across the world. The New York Times gushed that prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) had "effectively integrated Islam, democracy, and vibrant economics," making Turkey,…
"From the Arab Spring to the 'indignados' protests in Spain and the Occupy movement, Paolo Gerbaudo examines the relationship between the rise of social media and the emergence of a new protest culture. Gerbaudo argues that activists' use of Twitter and Facebook does not fit wit…
