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.

The Iranian revolution has been the paramount catalyst challenging the political order of the Middle East in recent times. Karen Feste's paper explores whether the emergence of political Islam is key to understanding power struggle in the Middle East. Focusing on the link between civil unrest and government response throughout the Arab world, do events leading up to and following the revolution in Iran render a model that explains political change in the Middle East? Examining the factors that converged to create the 1979 revolution in Iran, what does the interaction between domestic and international pressures underpinning social and political change in the region suggest? Employing aggregate measures based on cross-national, longitudinal event data, Feste tests the correlation between public dissent and government sanctions across three distinct phases in Middle East political history in order to discern patterns of political change associated with temporal, geographical and leadership traits.

Prior to 2011, popular imagination perceived the Muslim Middle East as unchanging and unchangeable, frozen in its own traditions and history. In Life as Politics, Asef Bayat argues that such presumptions fail to recognize the routine, yet important, ways in which ordinary people make meaningful change through everyday actions. First published just months before the Arab Spring swept across the region, this timely and prophetic book sheds light on the ongoing acts of protest, practice, and direct daily action. The second edition includes three new chapters on the Arab Spring and Iran's Green Movement and is fully updated to reflect recent events. At heart, the book remains a study of agency in times of constraint. In addition to ongoing protests, millions of people across the Middle East are effecting transformation through the discovery and creation of new social spaces within which to make their claims heard. This eye-opening book makes an important contribution to global debates over the meaning of social movements and the dynamics of social change.

Based on a decade of research, including in-depth interviews with many leading figures in the story, this edition is essential for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the turmoil engulfing the Middle East, from civil wars to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Previously published by Pambazuka Press in 2012 under the title of 'The People's Spring: the Future of the Arab Revolution.' This edition contains a new chapter analyzing U.S. geo-strategy.

The recent deaths of four long-term heads of state in the Arab world heralded important changes, as political power passed from one generation to the next. Shedding light on these changes, Arab Elites explores the attitudes and political agendas of the new leadership emerging throughout the region. A strong analytical framework informs the authors discussion of elites in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tunisia. The result is a portrait of the current state, and likely future, of politics in the Arab Middle East.

Many residents of the Middle East - and more recently, Western powers - have placed great hope in democratization in the region. Yet authoritarianism remains the norm and movement towards democracy is both slow and uneven. The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East examines democracy and democratization in the light of regional realities rather than the wishful thinking of outsiders. Specialists from the region analyze democratic prospects in the region, while accomplished scholars from the United States and the United Kingdom analyze Western policy, providing a wide-ranging survey of the efforts of individual countries and the effect of external influences. Addressing themes including sectarianism, culture, religion, security and the promotion of democracy, the book examines the experiences of activists, political parties, religious groups and governments and highlights the difficulties involved in bringing democracy to the Middle East. Providing a multifaceted approach to the issue of democratization, this book will be a valuable reference for courses on Middle Eastern politics, political science and democracy.