“Since the series of uprisings of the Arab Spring began, the debate in Arab countries has focused almost exclusively on politics and questions of national identity. However, it is economic issues that are driving the agenda, and real economic grievances must be addressed in order for the many transitions to succeed. Hafez Ghanem gives a thorough assessment of the Arab…
Governance
Egypt’s 2011–2012 parliamentary elections: Voting for religious vs. secular democracy?
“This study investigates whether individuals’ attitudes towards democracy and secular politics have any influence on voting behaviour in Egypt. Based on data from survey conducted immediately after the Egyptian parliamentary elections in January 2012, this study finds that Egyptians’ attitudes towards democratic governance were quite negative around the parliamentary elections, yet Egyptians still endorsed democracy as the ideal political system…
Challenging Information Scarcity. The Effect of Internet Use on Protest under Authoritarian Regimes
“The importance of profoundly understanding the drivers behind protest under authoritarian regimes is hard to overestimate. Mass mobilisation can be the prelude to dramatic political ruptures that affect the lives of many. This can be for the better, as Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution or Slobodan Milosevic’ overthrow demonstrate, but protests can also be the overture of a nightmare, as revealed by…
THE EU-TUNISIA PRIVILEGED PARTNERSHIP – WHAT NEXT?
“On 15 May 2018, Tunisia and the European Union (EU) will hold an Association Council meeting where they are expected to adopt partnership priorities, the dedicated framework used since the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2015 in replacement of the former action plan. Since the last Association Council meeting in May 2017, some voices on both sides…
Political Participation and Political Citizenship
“This chapter discusses the various definitions of political participation and political citizenship, as they encompass many activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. It also highlights the importance of political participation and citizenship, and how participation extends beyond parties and citizens’ involvement in certain aspects of the electoral process through independent…
Multiple fragmentations de la Méditerranée : quelles perspectives pour la sécurité régionale? (French)
“Double fragmentation on the southern and northern scale: what consequences? The Mediterranean is a space of ideological tensions, economic disparities and security tensions. Security is a strong common priority for the peoples and governments of the region. How can it become a common constructive project for the future?”
Revolution and Counterrevolution in Egypt
“Over eighteen days in January 2011, Tahrir Square in Cairo was featured in broadcasts around the world as the epicenter of Egypt’s thawra, or revolution. Festooned with flags and signs and posters, pulsing with the beat of music and speakers and protest chants from loudspeakers and stages, and filled with the sense of changing history, the square was temporarily transformed…
Launching Revolution: Social Media and the Egyptian Uprising’s First Movers
“Drawing on evidence from the 2011 Egyptian uprising, we demonstrate how the use of two social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter – contributed to a discrete mobilizational outcome: the staging of a successful first protest in a revolutionary cascade, or, what we call “first mover mobilization.” Specifically, we argue that these two platforms facilitated the staging of a large,…
Outsourcing Welfare. how the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries
“In order to meet the International Monetary Fund’s debt-reduction guidelines, many developing country governments have had to retrenth their social welfare systems. This text is about how remittances – the hundreds of billions of dollars international migrants send to family members in their home countries each year – are helping to fill this welfare gap and prevent civil unrest in…
Turnout in Transitional Elections: Who votes in Iraq?
“Electoral turnout in Iraq is a puzzling phenomenon. Despite the country’s lack of a democratic past, undeveloped party system, volatile political alliances, inexperienced voters, ethnic politics, sectarian violence, and terrorism, Iraqis’ electoral engagement has reached impressive levels. Given the importance of political participation at the foundational stages of democracy, this article places the individual within a broad context to draw…
Affinity, arming, consequences, and perceptions: an introduction
This article provides an introduction to the special issue on Political violence: affinity, arming, consequences, and perceptions. The issue contains panel analyses, theoretical investigations, and a quantification study. With respect to terrorism, four of the articles study perceptions regarding democratic skepticism, security effectiveness, refugee hosting risks, and financial well-being. Although much of the special issue addresses aspects of terrorism, some…
The Arab Uprisings in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. Social, Political and Economic Transformations
“The Arab Uprisings were unexpected events of rare intensity in Middle Eastern history – mass, popular and largely non-violent revolts which threatened and in some cases toppled apparently stable autocracies. This volume provides in-depth analyses of how people perceived the socio-economic and political transformations in three case studies epitomising different post-Uprising trajectories – Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt – and drawing…
Popular Support for Democracy in Autocratic Regimes: A Micro-Level Analysis of Preferences
“Scholarly opinions diverge as to which citizens in autocratic regimes actually prefer democracy to the status quo. While some argue that citizens with higher levels of socioeconomic status are more likely to prefer democracy because they desire political equality, others argue that the poor should prefer democracy most because they will have more relative power to affect redistributive policies. Analyzing…
Conceptions of Sharia and Support for Militancy and Democratic Values: Evidence From Pakistan
“Numerous empirical studies of the relationship between popular support for Islamism and support for democracy and violence have yielded inconclusive results. We suspect that this is largely because scholars have not operationalized support for Shari`a in ways that capture the concept’s multi-dimensionality. In this paper, we employ data derived from a carefully designed survey instrument that casts unique insights into…
Rethinking the Tunisian miracle: a party politics view
“Five years on from the Tunisian revolution, Tunisia stands as the sole success story of the Arab Spring. The country since then has managed to adopt a pluralist and democratic constitution, and held three free and fair elections. Accordingly, in the eyes of several observers, Tunisia is now in the process of consolidating its new democracy. However, the reality on…