Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:03:15.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Arab Spring: One Region, Several Puzzles, and Many Explanations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2015

Sean Yom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Review Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 682 - 704
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Sean Yom is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Temple University. Contact email: seanyom@temple.edu.

References

Aarts, P. and Cavatorta, F. (2013) (eds), Civil Society in Syria and Iran: Activism in Authoritarian Contexts (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. (2006), Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Achcar, G. (2013), The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Al-Sumeit, F., Lenze, N. and Hudson, M. (2015) (eds), The Arab Uprisings: Catalysts, Dynamics, and Trajectories (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield).Google Scholar
Alhassen, M. and Shihab-Eldin, A. (2012) (eds), Demanding Dignity: Young Voices from the Front Lines of the Arab Revolutions (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press).Google Scholar
Alimi, E.Y. and Meyer, D.S. (2011), ‘Seasons of Change: Arab Spring and Political Opportunities’, Swiss Political Science Review, 17(4): 475–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allal, A. (2010), ‘Réformes néolibérales, clientélismes et protestations en situation autoritaire: les mouvements contestataires dans le bassin minier de Gafsa en Tunisie (2008)’, Politique Africaine, 117: 107–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amin, M., Assaad, R., Al-Baharna, N., Dervis, D., Desai, R., Dhillon, N., Galal, A., Ghanem, H., Graham, C. and Kaufmann, D. (2012), After the Spring: Economic Transitions in the Arab World (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, L. (2006), ‘Searching Where the Light Shines: Studying Democratization in the Middle East’, Annual Review of Political Science, 9: 189–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, L. (2014), ‘Authoritarian Legacies and Regime Change: Towards Understanding Political Transition in the Arab World’, in F. Gerges (ed.), The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World (New York: Cambridge University Press): 41–59.Google Scholar
Ayubi, N. (1995), Over-stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East (London: I.B. Tauris).Google Scholar
Bayat, A. (2010), Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayat, A. (2013), ‘The Arab Spring and its Surprises’, Development and Change, 44(3): 587–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beinin, J. and Vairel, F. (2013) (eds), Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa, 2nd edn (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).Google Scholar
Bellin, E. (2004), ‘The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Exceptionalism in Comparative Perspective’, Comparative Politics, 36(2): 139–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellin, E. (2012), ‘Reconsidering the Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Lessons from the Arab Spring’, Comparative Politics, 44(2): 127–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnefoy, L. and Poirier, M. (2013), ‘Dynamics of the Yemeni Revolution: Contextualizing Mobilizations’, in J. Beinin and F. Vairel (eds), Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press): 228–245.Google Scholar
Brown, N. and Shahin, E. (2010) (eds), The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East: Regional Politics and External Policies (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Brownlee, J., Masoud, T. and Reynolds, A. (2015), The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brynen, R., Moore, P. and Salloukh, B. (2012), Beyond the Arab Spring: Authoritarianism and Democratization in the Arab World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunce, V. (2000), ‘Comparative Democratization: Big and Bounded Generalizations’, Comparative Political Studies, 33(6–7): 703–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chehabi, H.E. and Linz, J. (1998), ‘A Theory of Sultanism I: A Type of Nondemocratic Rule’, in H.E. Chehabi and J. Linz (eds), Sultanistic Regimes (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press): 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomiak, L. (2011), ‘The Making of a Revolution in Tunisia’, Middle East Law and Governance, 3(1–2): 68–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, C. (2007), ‘State Repression and Political Order’, Annual Review of Political Science, 10: 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawisha, A. (2013), The Second Arab Awakening: Revolution, Democracy, and the Islamist Challenge from Tunis to Damascus (New York: W.W. Norton and Co.).Google Scholar
Diwan, I. (2014) (ed.), Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Uprisings (Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific Publishing).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filiu, J.P. (2011), The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Gause, F.G. (2011), ‘Why Middle East Studies Missed the Arab Spring: The Myth of Authoritarian Stability’, Foreign Affairs, 90(4): 81–90.Google Scholar
Gelvin, J. (2012), The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Gerges, F. (2014) (ed.), The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World (New York: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Goldstone, J. (2011a), ‘Cross-Class Coalitions in the Making of the Arab Revolts of 2011’, Swiss Political Science Review, 17(4): 457–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, J. (2011b), ‘Understanding the Revolutions of 2011: Weakness and Resilience in Middle Eastern Autocracies’, Foreign Affairs, 90(4): 8–16.Google Scholar
Goodwin, J. (2011), ‘Why we Were Surprised (Again), by the Arab Spring’, Swiss Political Science Review, 17(4): 452–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, B. (2012), Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).Google Scholar
Hafez, M. (2004), Why Muslims Rebel: Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).Google Scholar
Hale, H. (2013), ‘Regime Change Cascades: What we Have Learned from the 1848 Revolutions to the 2011 Arab Uprisings’, Annual Review of Political Science, 16: 331–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanieh, A. (2013), Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East (Chicago: Haymarket Books).Google Scholar
Hanson, S. (2003), ‘Sovietology, Post-Sovietology, and the Study of Postcommunist Democratization’, Demokratizatsiya, 11(1): 142–149.Google Scholar
Harrelson-Stephens, J. and Callaway, R. (2014), ‘You Say you Want a Revolution: The Arab Spring, Norm Diffusion, and the Human Rights Regime’, Human Rights Review, 15(4): 413–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herb, M. (1999), All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press).Google Scholar
Hess, S. (2015), ‘Sources of Authoritarian Resilience in Regional Protest Waves: The Post-Communist Colour Revolutions and 2011 Arab Uprisings’, Government and Opposition, published early online, doi: 10.1017/gov.2014.39.Google Scholar
Heydemann, S. (2004) (ed.), Networks of Privilege in the Middle East (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heydemann, S. and Leenders, R. (2014), ‘Authoritarian Learning and Counterrevolution’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press): 75–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, M. and Jamal, A. (2014), ‘Political Attitudes of Youth Cohorts’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press): 75–92.Google Scholar
Holmes, A. (2012), ‘There Are Weeks When Decades Happen: Structure and Strategy in the Egyptian Revolution’, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 17(4): 391–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hosny, A., Kandil, M. and Mohtadi, H. (2014), ‘What Does Egypt’s Revolution Reveal about its Economy?’ International Economic Journal, 28(4): 589–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, M. and Walters, M. (2014), ‘Explaining the Unexpected: Political Science and the Surprises of 1989 and 2011’, Perspectives on Politics, 12(2): 394–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, P.N. and Hussain, M.M. (2013), Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, M. (2015), ‘Transition to What? Reflections on the Arab Uprisings’, in F. Al-Sumeit, N. Lenze and M. Hudson (eds), The Arab Uprisings: Catalysts, Dynamics, and Trajectories (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield): 31–46.Google Scholar
Janos, A. (1991), ‘Social Science, Communism, and the Dynamics of Political Change’, World Politics, 44(1): 81–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jasper, J. (2010), ‘Social Movement Theory Today: Toward a Theory of Action?’, Sociology Compass, 4(11): 965–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josua, M. and Edel, M. (2015), ‘To Repress or Not to Repress: Regime Survival Strategies in the Arab Spring’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 27(2): 289–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamrava, M. (ed.) (2015), Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Kandil, H. (2012), ‘Why Did the Egyptian Middle Class March to Tahrir Square?’ Mediterranean Politics, 17(2): 197–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khatib, L. and Lust, E. (2014) (eds), Taking to the Streets: The Transformation of Arab Activism (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khosrokhavar, F. (2012), The New Arab Revolutions that Shook the World (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers).Google Scholar
Kohli, A. (2004), State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korany, B. and El-Mahdi, R. (2014) (eds), Arab Spring in Egypt: Revolution and Beyond (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press).Google Scholar
Kuran, T. (1995), ‘The Inevitability of Future Revolutionary Surprises’, American Journal of Sociology, 100(6): 1528–1551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurzman, C. (2004), The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurzman, C. (2012), ‘The Arab Spring Uncoiled’, Mobilization, 17(4): 377–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leenders, R. (2013), ‘Social Movement Theory and the Onset of the Popular Uprising in Syria’, Arab Studies Quarterly, 35(3): 273–289.Google Scholar
Lust, E. (2014), ‘Response to Howard’, Perspective on Politics, 12(2): 413–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutterbeck, D. (2013), ‘Arab Uprisings, Armed Forces, and Civil–Military Relations’, Armed Forces and Society, 39(1): 28–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, M. (2006), Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today (New York: Columbia University Press).Google Scholar
Lynch, M. (2012), The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East (New York: Public Affairs).Google Scholar
Lynch, M. (2014) (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, D., Tarrow, S. and Tilly, C. (2001), Dynamics of Contention (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFaul, M. (2002), ‘The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World’, World Politics, 54(2): 212–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, J. (2010), Colonialism and Postcolonial Development: Spanish America in Comparative Perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makara, M. (2013), ‘Coup-Proofing, Military Defection, and the Arab Spring’, Democracy and Security, 9(4): 334–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malik, A. and Awadallah, B. (2013), ‘The Economics of the Arab Spring’, World Development, 45: 296–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nepstad, S.E. (2013), ‘Mutiny and Nonviolence in the Arab Spring: Exploring Military Defections and Loyalty in Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria’, Journal of Peace Research, 50(3): 337–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noueihed, L. and Warren, A. (2012), The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and the Making of a New Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Pace, M. and Cavatorta, F. (2012), ‘The Arab Uprisings in Theoretical Perspective’, Mediterranean Politics, 17(2): 125–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patel, D., Bunce, V. and Wolchik, S. (2014), ‘Diffusion and Demonstration’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press): 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearlman, W. (2013), ‘Emotions and the Microfoundations of the Arab Uprisings’, Perspectives on Politics, 11(2): 387–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saideman, S. (2012), ‘When Conflict Spreads: Arab Spring and the Limits of Diffusion’, International Interactions: Empirical and Theoretical Research in International Relations, 38(5): 713–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlumberger, O. (2007) (ed.), Debating Arab Authoritarianism: Dynamics and Durability in Nondemocratic Regimes (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwedler, J. (2015), ‘Comparative Politics and the Arab Uprisings’, Middle East Law and Governance, 7(1): 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selbin, E. (2010), Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story (London: Zed Books).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springborg, R. (2014), ‘Arab Militaries’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press): 142–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, G. (1993), The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Tarrow, S. (1998), Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tessler, M. and Robbins, M. (2014), ‘Political System Preferences of Arab Publics’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press): 249–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, C. (2004), Social Movements, 1768–2004 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers).Google Scholar
Weyland, K. (2012), ‘The Arab Spring: Why the Surprising Similarities with the Revolutionary Wave of 1848?’, Perspectives on Politics, 10(4): 917–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiktorowicz, Q. (2004) (ed.), Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Yom, S. and Gause, F.G. (2012), ‘Resilient Royals: How Arab Monarchies Hang On’, Journal of Democracy, 23(3): 74–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar