Revolution, Revolt and Reform in North Africa

After the unfolding of the Arab Spring, a plethora of books, monographs and articles continues to be produced, addressing a wide range of topics related to the Arab Spring in a wide variety of contexts. However, one way or the other, the entire focus of all these works is on transition after the Arab Spring. The book under review is also dedicated to the understanding of Arab Spring and its uneven transitions in five North African countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco). The book is a collection of papers written by scholars referred to by Larémont as intellectuels engagés. This is a valuable work for the reason that most of the papers are written by insiders. Moreover, the various chapters of the book provide ‘multi-causal analyses’ of the unprecedented episodes of 2011. The book is organized in eight chapters — five are country-based and the remaining three offer wide-ranging analysis of all the five case studies by the editor. Laying the foundation for the chapters to follow, the first introductory chapter by the editor examines the social and political nature of the revolts and the decisive variables involved. Larémont claims that the demonstrations...