Lost in Translation: New Paradigms for the Arab Spring

Following the much-publicised self-immolation of Muhammad Bouazizi on 18 December 2010, a tempestuous succession of demonstrations, revolutions and civil wars swept the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. These events, collectively referred to as the Arab Spring, spread contagiously throughout the Middle East and the Maghreb. But instead of ushering in tidy transitions of power in autocratic regimes, the revolutions and uprisings ushered in a state of chaos, which greatly complicates the task of analysts and historians whose job it is to make sense of what has taken place. Will the Arab Spring bring much needed change that benefits the Arab peoples or will instability and turmoil keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of what some have termed the Arab winter? This is a contributory work by Middle East experts. As well as political and social analysis of the events and aftermath of the Arab Spring, the work provides a complex of paradigms (ranging from complexity studies to sport) which have thus far been overlooked by scholars and commentators in their assessments of Arab Spring manifestations. The result is unprecedented insights into the myriad forces that have inhibited genuine political and social transformations in the states of the Middle East and North Africa.

Prof. Uzi Rabi is Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. His numerous academic works include Yemen: Revolution, Civil War, and Unification (I.B Tauris, 2005). He provides consultation to the media and Israeli policymakers on contemporary Middle Eastern issues.

Dr. Abdelilah Bouasria, professor of international politics at the Ecole de Governance et d'Economie in Rabat, Morocco, has taught at George Mason University, the American University and the University of Montana. He is the author of Sufism and Politics in Morocco: Activism and Dissent (Routledge, 2015), and other books and articles.