Arab Revolutions in Context : Civil Society and Democracy in a Changing Middle East

From late 2010 a series of dramatic and unprecedented events swept across the Middle East and North Africa, toppling several autocratic regimes that had held power for decades and ushering in a new climate of dissent and democratisation. The Arab Revolutions in Context seizes a unique opportunity to reflect on these seismic events, their causes and consequences, and the core issues facing the region as it moves forward. This volume is more than a collection of detailed thematic essays.
It situates the Arab Revolutions within their broader contextual backgrounds&;showing that a unique set of historical events, as well as local, regional and global dynamics, has converged to provide the catalyst that triggered the recent revolts-and also within a new conceptual framework. The argument here is that the Arab Revolutions pose a very specific challenge to conventional wisdom concerning democracy and democratisation in the Middle East. The Arab Revolutions in Context is the first volume of its kind to address the Arab Revolutions and the varying analyses, debates and discussions that they have stimulated.

Benjamin Isakhan is Australian Research Council Discovery (DECRA) Research Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University, Australia.

Fethi Mansouri, Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Globalization, holds a Chair in Migration and Intercultural Relations at Deakin University and is the editor of the Journal of Intercultural Studies (Routledge).

Shahram Akbarzadeh is Professor of Asian Politics (Middle East and Central Asia) and Deputy Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies at Melbourne University.