The Second Arab Awakening: Revolution, Democracy, and the Islamist Challenge from Tunis to Damascus

The Second Arab Awakening: Revolution, Democracy, and the Islamist Challenge from Tunis to Damascus PDF

Author: Adeed Dawisha

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2013-04-08

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0393240320

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An eye-opening survey of the recent Arab revolutions and their political consequences, comparing them to those of a previous generation. When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, in December 2010, sparking a wave of popular uprisings that would topple dictatorial regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, observers hailed the onset of a great “Arab Awakening.” But this wasn’t the first time people in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere across the region had taken to the streets demanding fundamental change. An earlier generation, in the 1950s and 1960s, rose against Arab governments that were doing the bidding of colonial powers. A generation later, many of these revolutionary heroes and their inheritors had themselves become murderous tyrants, leading the people to rebel a second time. In The Second Arab Awakening, distinguished academic and writer Adeed Dawisha brings a deep historical perspective to the recent Arab uprisings, tracing the fledgling and uncertain progress so far of these revolutions and the Islamist challenge that has emerged in their wake. Elegantly written, detailed yet concise, Dawisha’s illuminating exploration of the threats and opportunities facing the victorious revolutionaries provides necessary perspective on a fast-changing political landscape.

Arab Society in Revolt

Arab Society in Revolt PDF

Author: Cesare Merlini

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2013-06-20

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0815723970

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For every pithy conceptualization of complex events, there are additional lenses through which to examine them. One of the several virtues of this book is precisely that it brings different perspectives to bear on the complexity, diversity, and uncertainty of recent and current events in the Arab world. The thirteen authors concentrate on the critical social forces shaping the region—demography, religion, gender, telecommunication connectivity, and economic structures—and they are painstakingly analyzed and evaluated.—from the foreword by Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution The Arab Spring will be remembered as a period of great change for the Arab states of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Facing fundamental transitions in governance, these countries are also undergoing profound social, cultural, and religious changes. The European Union and the United States, caught unprepared by the uprisings, now must address the inescapable challenges of those changes. How will the West respond to these new realities, particularly in light of international economic uncertainty, EU ambivalence toward a "cohesive foreign policy," and declining U.S. influence abroad? Arab Society in Revolt explains and interprets the societal transformations occurring in the Arab Muslim world, their ramifications for the West, and possible policy options for dealing with this new world. Arab Society in Revolt examines areas of change particularly relevant in the southern Mediterranean: demography and migration, Islamic revival and democracy, rapidly changing roles of women in Arab society, the Internet in Arab societies, commercial and social entrepreneurship as change factors, and the economics of Arab transitions. The book then looks at those cultural and religious as well as political and economic factors that have influenced the Western response, or lack of it, to the Arab Spring as well as the policy options that remain open.

Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World

Violent Radical Movements in the Arab World PDF

Author: Peter Sluglett

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-07-11

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1786726300

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Violent non-state actors have become almost endemic to political movements in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. This book examines why they play such a key role and the different ways in which they have developed. Placing them in the context of the region, separate chapters cover the organizations that are currently active, including: The Muslim Brotherhood, The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, Hamas, Hizbullah, the PKK, al-Shabab and the Huthis. The book shows that while these groups are a new phenomenon, they also relate to other key factors including the 'unfinished business' of the colonial and postcolonial eras and tacit encouragement of the Wahhabi/Salafi/jihadi da'wa by some regional powers. Their diversity means violent non-state actors elude simple classification, ranging from 'national' and 'transnational' to religious and political movements. However, by examining their origins, their supporters and their motivations, this book helps explain their ubiquity in the region.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

Arab-Israeli Conflict PDF

Author: Priscilla Roberts

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13:

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Truly an essential reference for today's world, this detailed introduction to the origins, events, and impact of the adversarial relationship between Arabs and Israelis illuminates the complexities and the consequences of this long-lasting conflict. The Arab-Israeli conflict remains one of the most contentious in modern history, one with repercussions that reach far beyond the Middle East. This volume describes and explains the most important countries, people, events, and organizations that play or have played a part in the conflict. Chronological coverage begins with the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 and extends to the present day. A one-stop reference, the guide offers a comprehensive overview essay, as well as perspective essays by leading scholars who explore such widely debated issues as the United States' support for Israel and historic rights to Palestine. Important primary source documents, such as the UN Resolution on the Partition of Palestine and the Camp David Accords, are included and put into context. Further insight into drivers of war and peace in the Middle East are provided through biographies of major political leaders like Menachem Begin, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Anwar Sadat.

Qatar and the Arab Spring

Qatar and the Arab Spring PDF

Author: Kristian Ulrichsen

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0190210974

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Qatar and the Arab Spring offers a frank examination of Qatar's startling rise to regional and international prominence, describing how its distinctive policy stance toward the Arab Spring emerged. In only a decade, Qatari policy-makers - led by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and his prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani - catapulted Qatar from a sleepy backwater to a regional power with truly international reach. In addition to pursuing an aggressive state-branding strategy with its successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar forged a reputation for diplomatic mediation that combined intensely personalized engagement with financial backing and favorable media coverage through the Al-Jazeera. These factors converged in early 2011 with the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolts in North Africa, Syria, and Yemen, which Qatari leaders saw as an opportunity to seal their regional and international influence, rather than as a challenge to their authority, and this guided their support of the rebellions against the Gaddafi and Assad regimes in Libya and Syria. From the high watermark of Qatari influence after the toppling of Gaddafi in 2011, that rapidly gave way to policy overreach in Syria in 2012, Coates Ulrichsen analyses Qatari ambition and capabilities as the tiny emirate sought to shape the transitions in the Arab world.

Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance

Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance PDF

Author: Professor Maha El Said

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2015-05-14

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1783602856

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Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political transformations received unprecedented media attention. The copious commentary, however, has yet to result in any serious study of the gender dynamics of political upheaval. Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance is the first book to analyse the interplay between moments of sociopolitical transformation, emerging subjectivities and the different modes of women’s agency in forging new gender norms in the Arab world. Written by scholars and activists from the countries affected, including Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, this is an important addition to Middle Eastern gender studies.

Middle Eastern Minorities

Middle Eastern Minorities PDF

Author: Ibrahim Zabad

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-03-27

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1317096738

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This is a comprehensive survey of minorities in the Middle East with a special focus on the post Arab Spring era. Minority communities in the Middle East are the most susceptible to the turbulence engulfing the region; the majority may suffer physical violence and socioeconomic loss, but minorities could potentially vanish. Instead of ushering in democracy and inclusive politics, the revolutionary upheavals have prompted chaos and fear and reinforced the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the region. Zabad uses historical sources as well as first-hand interviews to vividly describe the current status of minorities in the Middle East, explaining attitudes towards the revolutionary upheavals as well as the various strategies they used to avail themselves of the opportunities presented and to confront the risks posed. The question of ethnic, sectarian and religious minorities is situated in the context of the broader history of the region in order to explain the underlying institutional and ideological factors that caused their predicament and problematized their relationship with the majority. The book providesa rich trove of information and insights generated from ten case studies that covered the Shī‘a in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon and Egypt, the Druze, the Alawites, Christians and Kurds in Syria, the Copts in Egypt, and the Zaydis in Yemen.

From Alliance to Union

From Alliance to Union PDF

Author: Joseph A. Kéchichian

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 2016-05-24

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1782846565

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After the conservative Arab Gulf Monarchies - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - joined forces on 25 May 1981 within the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), few fathomed that security requirements on and around the Arabian Peninsula would be so precarious and for so long. To answer their search for permanent stability, Arab Gulf rulers erected a regional alliance that sought to integrate internal and regional defences, as well as strengthen their existing socio-economic ties. Several of the monarchies even hoped that co-ordination on foreign policy issues over which near unanimity existed could, eventually, lead to a full-fledged union as envisaged in the organisation's founding charter. Between 1981 and 2015 these Arab Gulf monarchies experienced major socio-political transformations resulting from upheavals throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds. The perceived necessity to bring about a full-fledged union has come into conflict with entrenched viewpoints from regimes that value traditional military/political roles and norms. In this new study, Joseph A. Kechichian provides an evaluation of GCC States' military institutions to better evaluate whether a stable alliance is capable of enduring over the next few decades, and how civilian leaders perceive the role and influence of their military officers for the task. Kechichian raises fundamental questions over internal, regional and international threats, including an existential challenge emanating from the Islamic revolutionary government of Iran, and assesses how GCC professionals may be preparing to tackle them. He further elucidates on the best methods to meet security challenges not only to secure political survival but also to determine whether conservative Arab Gulf regimes can flourish outside an effective alliance. The volume concludes with an examination of evolving civil-military relations in the GCC States.

Islamism and Cultural Expression in the Arab World

Islamism and Cultural Expression in the Arab World PDF

Author: Abir Hamdar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-10

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1317537815

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Whereas most studies of Islamism focus on politics and religious ideology, this book analyses the ways in which Islamism in the Arab world is defined, reflected, transmitted and contested in a variety of creative and other cultural forms. It covers a range of contexts of production and reception, from the early twentieth century to the present, and with reference to cultural production in and/or about Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, the Gulf, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. The material engaged with is produced in Arabic, English and French and includes fiction, autobiography, feature films, television series, television reportage, the press, rap music and video games. Throughout, the book highlights the multiple forms and contested interpretations of Islamism in the Arab world, exploring trends and tensions in the ways Islamism is represented to (primarily) Arab audiences and complicating simplistic perspectives on this phenomenon. The book considers repeated and idiosyncratic themes, modes of characterisation, motifs, structures of feeling and forms of engagement, in the context of an ongoing struggle for symbolic power in the region.