Revolution, Revolt and Reform in North Africa


Book Description

Providing an account of the recent revolutions or reform movements that constituted part of the Arab Spring, this book focuses on these transformative processes in a North African context. Whilst the longer term outcomes of the Arab Spring revolts are not entirely clear, the revolutionary or reform processes in North Africa are further along than the events taking place in Levant or the Arabian Peninsula, elections having now been held in the post-revolutionary/ post-revolt states. Understanding and examining North African events has become critical as the countries in question are part of Mare Nostrum; events in North Africa inevitably have effects in Europe. Using examples from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Algeria, Revolution, Revolt and Reform in North Africa provides an insider scholar’s account of these recent revolutions or reform movements. One of the first attempts at undertaking an analysis of possible transitions to democracy in the region, this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers with an interest in the Middle East, Political Science or contemporary affairs in general.




After the Arab Uprisings


Book Description

A holistic and cross-disciplinary approach to understanding why a regional democratic transition did not occur after the Arab Spring protests, this accessible study highlights the salience of regime type, civil society, women's mobilizations, and external intervention across seven countries for undergraduate and postgraduate students and scholars.




The African Renaissance and the Afro-Arab Spring


Book Description

The hope and despair surrounding the Afro-Arab Spring in North Africa has only begun to be played out in regional and global politics. And the call for an African renaissance that followed the miraculous political transition in South Africa is, twenty years later, viewed with similar ambiguity. What is clear is that current developments in Africa, north and south, promise something markedly different from what has prevailed at any point since the dawn of the African independence movements of the 1950s and 60s. But the continent's own identity remains unresolved, posing the question whether and how its multiple and divergent experiences can be understood and perhaps woven into a basis for unity. Contributors to this volume explore whether or not events north of the Sahara and on the southern tip of Africa can be catalysts for change in other parts of the continent. Chapters assesses the nature of political resistance, revolution, and transition in North and Southern Africa, addressing critical factors--economics, culture, gender, theology--that reveal the promises and perils of African reform. Includes a foreword by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.




The State in North Africa


Book Description

A seasoned expert on the Maghreb offers a fine-grained analysis of the region's politics in a time of upheaval.




Arab Spring Dreams


Book Description

From a gay man secretly mourning his lover's suicide in Morocco to a young woman denied schooling because of religious discrimination in Iran, Arab Spring Dreams spotlights some of the Middle East's most outspoken young dissidents. The essayists cover a wide range of experiences, including premarital sex, the lack of educational opportunities, teenage marriage, and the fight for political freedom. They also highlight how repressive laws and cultural mores snuff out liberty and stifle growth and consider how previous movements - particularly the American civil rights struggle - might be channeled to effect change in their own countries. Beautifully written and profoundly moving, these stories present a decisive call for change at a crucial point in the evolution of the Middle East.




Kings Or People


Book Description

"It is difficult to decide which is the more impressive: the authority and control with which Mr. Bendix writes of the traditions, the institutions, and the technological and social developments of cultures as diverse as the British, French, German, Russian, and Japanese, or the skill with which he weaves his separate stories into a persuasive scenario of the modern revolution. A remarkable achievement."--Gordon A. Craig, Stanford University ""Kings or People" is equal to the grandeur of its subject: the political origins of the modern world. With Barrington Moore's "Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy" and Immanuels Wallerstein's "The Modern World System" which it matches in boldness, while differing radically in perspective, it is one of the truly powerful ventures in comparative historical sociology to have appeared in recent years."--Clifford Geertz "A brilliant achievement that will be equally fascinating for the general reader, the student, and the specialized scholar."--Henry W. Ehrmann




Dispatches from the Arab Spring


Book Description

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 many places, the revolutionary wave that started in Tunisia in December 2010 has transformed how the world sees Arab peoples and politics. Bringing together the knowledge of activists, scholars, journalists, and policy experts uniquely attuned to the pulse of the region, Dispatches from the Arab Spring offers an urgent and engaged analysis of a remarkable ongoing world-historical event that is widely misinterpreted in the West. Tracing the flows of protest, resistance, and counterrevolution in every one of the countries affected by this epochal change—from Morocco to Iraq and Syria to Sudan—the contributors provide ground-level reports and new ways of teaching about and understanding the Middle East in general, and contextualizing the social upheavals and political transitions that defined the Arab Spring in particular. Rejecting outdated and invalid (yet highly influential) paradigms to analyze the region—from depictions of the “Arab street” as a mindless, reactive mob to the belief that Arab culture was “unfit” for democratic politics—this book offers fresh insights into the region’s dynamics, drawing from social history, political geography, cultural creativity, and global power politics. Dispatches from the Arab Spring is an unparalleled introduction to the changing Middle East and offers the most comprehensive and accurate account to date of the uprisings that profoundly reshaped North Africa and the Middle East. Contributors: Sheila Carapico, U of Richmond; Nouri Gana, UCLA; Toufic Haddad; Adam Hanieh, SOAS/U of London; Toby C. Jones, Rutgers U; Anjali Kamat; Khalid Medani, McGill U; Merouan Mekouar; Maya Mikdashi, NYU; Paulo Gabriel Hilu Pinto, U Federal Fluminense, Brazil; Jillian Schwedler, Hunter College, CUNY; Ahmad Shokr; Susan Slyomovics, UCLA; Haifa Zangana.




Amazigh Politics in the Wake of the Arab Spring


Book Description

On television, the Arab Spring took place in Cairo, Tunis, and the city-states of the Persian Gulf. Yet the drama of 2010, and the decade of subsequent activism, extended beyond the cities—indeed, beyond Arabs. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman brings to light the sustained post–Arab Spring political movement of North Africa’s Amazigh people. The Amazigh movement did not begin with the Arab Spring, but it has changed significantly since then. Amazigh Politics in the Wake of the Arab Spring details the increasingly material goals of Amazigh activism, as protest has shifted from the arena of ethnocultural recognition to that of legal and socioeconomic equality. Amazigh communities responded to the struggles for freedom around them by pressing territorial and constitutional claims while rejecting official discrimination and neglect. Arab activists, steeped in postcolonial nationalism and protective of their hegemonic position, largely refused their support, yet flailing regimes were forced to respond to sharpening Amazigh demands or else jeopardize their threadbare legitimacy. Today the Amazigh question looms larger than ever, as North African governments find they can no longer ignore the movement’s interests.




Revolution and Authoritarianism in North Africa


Book Description

Investigates how regimes in the Maghreb have kept dissent at bay, and the means by which their authority has been challenged