Conclusion : the promises and challenges of the Arab revolutions

The Arab Revolutions in Context: Civil Society and Democracy in a Changing Middle East (Melbourne University Press), 2012

The Arab Revolutions have caused a lot of excitement about the prospects of change for the better in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) . These momentous events have been praised as a bottom-up movement for democracy and political accountability. Some analysts have even compared them with the anti-colonial movement that kicked European empires out of the region. For this and many other reasons, these events have been represented as a second chance for the Arab world to build an authentic and democratic system of government . Both in the region and outside of it many are branding this political breakthrough as a form of ‘second independence’ – a popular uprising demanding freedom, not from the colonial West, but from the despotic and illegitimate ruling classes supported and in some cases imposed by the West. To this extent, the Arab Revolutions represent a significant historical development for the MENA as the Revolutions promise to usher the region into the twenty first century, not via dictatorship but via democracy – something which many people thought would never occur . Many important questions remain unanswered, however, including: how are authenticity and democracy defined in the MENA? What might authentic political accountability and democracy look like in the Middle East? What role should Islam play in the emerging system? What about minority rights? How will Christian Arabs and other ethno-religious communities of the MENA fit into the picture? What status will women have in the post- Revolution Arab world? Having sacrificed so much to shake the foundations of the authoritarian regimes and winning international sympathy and praise, the challenge for the revolutionary forces is to maintain the momentum for change and guard against falling back into old habits.

The Arab Spring struck the Middle East to the core as popular uprisings landed in Tunisia then Egypt, Libya followed suit after Yemen, yet the course of events was doomed when the process was held up in Syria, bringing the issue of democracy in the Arab region to the fore. Enthusiasm towards fully-fledged democracy has been mounting and demonstrators calling for freedom, human rights and democracy have never stopped, although the revolts succeeded in toppling a number of autocratic regimes and "fair" elections were held. The parties, who failed in the elections, and their supporters, accuse the winners of cheating, fraud and falsifying the results. This is not an attribute unique to elections in the Arab region as many democratized societies behave the same way in similar circumstances (the latest case was in Bulgaria). Nevertheless, the opposition sparked a new spate of demonstrations aiming to topple, obstruct or thwart the rule of the newly elected elites. On the other hand, the winners were accused of wrongdoings and practices that are deemed to enhance and consolidate their own rule. In an attempt to keep readers abreast, this article will try to explain the term democracy in the Arab world, tackling both historical and practical contours. The first part will review the status of democracy in the Arab region from a historical perspective; while the second part will discuss its viability as pertains to the current state of affairs.

Melbourne University Press, 2012

From late 2010 a series of dramatic and unprecedented events swept across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), toppling several autocratic regimes that had held power for decades and ushering in a new climate of dissent and democratization. This book seizes a unique opportunity to reflect on these seismic events, their causes and consequences, and the core issues facing the region as it moves forward. However, this volume aims to be so much more than a collection of detailed thematic essays on the Arab Revolutions. The central argument and the key contribution of this book are twofold. Firstly, it aims to situate the Arab Revolutions within their broader contextual background, arguing that a unique set of historical events as well as local, regional and global dynamics have converged to provide the catalyst that triggered the recent revolts. Secondly, this book will attempt to situate the events within a new conceptual framework. The argument here is that the Arab Revolutions pose a very specific challenge to conventional wisdom concerning democracy and democratisation in the Middle East.

The Arab Revolutions in Context Civil Society and Democracy in a Changing Middle East, 2012

The Arab Revolutions in Context: Civil Society and Democracy in a Changing Middle East (Melbourne University Press), 2012

This volume will be the first of its kind to address the Arab Revolutions and the varying analyses, debates and discussions that they have stimulated. It seizes a unique opportunity to reflect on these seismic events, their causes and consequences, as well as on the core issues facing the region in the future. However, this volume aims to be much more than a collection of detailed thematic essays on the Arab Revolutions. The central arguments and the key contributions of this book are twofold. Firstly, the book aims to situate the Arab Revolutions within their broader contextual background, arguing that a unique set of historical events as well as local, regional and global dynamics have converged to provide the catalyst that triggered the recent revolts. Secondly, this book will attempt to situate the events within a new conceptual framework. The argument here is that the Arab Revolutions pose a very specific challenge to conventional wisdom concerning democracy and democratisation in the Middle East.

Perspectives on Politics

The demonstrations in the Arab countries, which started in early 2011,carried the Middle East and the legitimacy of its regimes into the world agenda once again. Within that context, this study discusses the problems in their socio-economic and political structures of the Arab regimes. In so doing, the study especially emphasizes the Arab states’ authoritarian structures, the bases on which they establish their legitimacy, and how economic and some democratic applications and institutions allowed such structures to persist. After discussing these basic problems of the Arab regimes, the study questions and investigates the capacity of these regimes to resist change, the desire and capacity of people to transform them, and finally the interplay between the Arab political culture and possibility of a change. The main conclusion of this article is that a profound regime change is only possible in conjunction with a change both in socio-economic conditions and in the political culture that feeds them.

While the dust of Arab revolutions has not yet settled, calls for democracy have never stopped, even after toppling a number of dictators and holding apparently fair elections. Scholars started to focus on the issue of democracy in the Arab world, as it has gained a great deal of attention with the advent of the Arab Spring. This article espouses a nuanced approach in addressing the issue of democracy in the Arab world, where we will try to draw some relevant conclusions of the future course of events in the region in light of the ongoing Arab Spring. Keyword: Arabs, the Arab World, Islam, the Arab Spring, Democracy

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2021

While the title of this book is deliberately provocative in nature, the purpose is not to assert the existence of a single Arab state in its «modern» form, but rather to take a closer look at the evolving nature of states and to provide a forward-looking understanding of the characteristics of modern Arab states. Despite the severe socioeconomic challenges and the persistent autocratic nature of most states, our recent KAS PolDiMed Survey found that citizens remain positive about their economic future and that civic engagement outside of formal political structures is on the rise. Ten years after the Arab uprisings, democracy and its institutions remain fragile and often cosmetic, and yet civil societies are aspiring and a new social contract is emerging with an increasingly empowered citizenry.

2015

The ongoing revolutionary processes in the Arab world have been analysed from many different perspectives. Among all these perspectives, there are two that stand out. On the one hand, those that emphasise the sociocultural characteristics of this region, and which sometimes take a certain �orientalist� approach. On the other hand, those that tend to subsume too easily these processes within an abstract and standard theory about modernisation and democratic transitions. While it is true that valuable contributions can be drawn from these two perspectives, both suffer from a trend towards unilateralism and formalism, however. It is therefore necessary to develop an alternative that takes account of the complexity of the social structures along with the existence of different social and political forces at stake. At this point, the contributions of Marxism are of great interest. This analysis must, in turn, be linked more closely with a theory of modernisation devoid of certain teleolo...