Beyond the Arab Spring

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the popular mobilization, uprisings, and regime transitions that shook the Arab World in 2011, there is little doubt that they mark a historic change in the political dynamics of the region. Authoritarian regimes that once seemed unchallengeable have been challenged and many of them found to be much less formidable than their citizens once feared. Dictators who once seemed to assume a lifetime hold on power have found themselves in exile, on trial, or dead at the hands of victorious rebels. Corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and injustice have been the targets of mass protests. Appeals for dignity, human rights, and democracy have been among the protesters’ most prominent slogans. In the thirteen chapters of the book under review, the authors are far more interested in the challenge of synthesis than in staking out a narrow post-authoritarian paradigm that would repeat some of the shortcomings of the earlier post-democratization tendencies. Clearly, authoritarianism flourished in the Arab World for decades withstanding the effects of third wave. Clearly, many authoritarian regimes in the region continue to survive despite the tumultuous events of the Arab Spring. There is also the possibility that the difficult transition under way in the region could in time become new authoritarianisms, whether populist, hybrid, Islamist, military, or nationalist.