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The Arab Spring: Looking Forward
The wave of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 set a precedent for political and
social change in the region. This special issue, jointly produced by Muftah.org and Democracy & Society,
a publication of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University, looks at some of
the challenges facing these nascent democratic movements.
Special Feature Issue: The Arab Spring – Looking Forward
Muftah Editors | 29 May 2012
Mohamed Bouazizi (Photo credit:PHOTOPQR/LE PARISIEN/Philippe de Poulpiquet) Since Mohammad Bouazizi’s act of self-immolation in December 2010, a wave of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have charted a course for political and social change in the region that has brought previously untouchable governments and leaders to their knees. However, since...A Turkish Model for the Arab Spring?
Aslı Ü. Bâli* | 29 May 2012
The uprisings of 2011 have transformed the Arab world. Long-standing regimes – such as those in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – have fallen or been radically transformed; elsewhere countries like Yemen, Bahrain and Syria face profound domestic challenges. For non-Arab regional actors the impact of these events is less clear. The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations...Stagnated Competition in Egypt’s People’s Assembly
David Jandura* | 29 May 2012
On January 23, 2012, the lower house of Egypt’s Parliament, the People’s Assembly, came into session. It was the first Parliament since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak and the first in decades that had been filled through a democratic election. The activity inside and outside the chamber reflected the conflicted nature of Egyptian society. ...Human Development & Public Engagement: Making Transitional Justice Work for the Arab Spring
Maryam Jamshidi* | 29 May 2012
Anti-Mubarak protesters flash a noose and a scale, as a symbol of justice, outside the police academy in Cairo where ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is on trial. (Photo credit: Amr Nabil / AP) In the last year, the Middle East and North Africa have witnessed the toppling of long-standing regimes and the ouster of once untouchable dictators. In the midst of...Fuel Subsidy Reform in Post-Revolutionary Yemen: A Participatory Approach
Rafat Al-Akhali* | 29 May 2012
It is safe to say that the Transitional Government in Yemen, sworn into office in December 2011, faces daunting political and security challenges, let alone the economic and fiscal challenges that rarely make the headlines. One of the challenges at the top of the list is the fiscal imbalance caused by subsidizing fuel products in Yemen. This paper examines the...Dreams Deferred; Co-opting the Mideast Revolts
Yousef K. Baker* | 29 May 2012
A dream haunts the people of the Middle East. Since the decline of the Ottoman Empire, this dream has motivated movements seeking collective dignity, whether nationalist, internationalist, right wing, left wing,...State-Society Relations after the Arab Spring: New Rulers, Same Rules
Sarah Yerkes* | 29 May 2012
The Arab Spring has brought into question long-held assumptions about the nature of state-society relations in the Arab world. During the protests and uprisings of 2011, regimes that were once thought to be invincible...Civil Society and Democratization in Egypt: The Road Not Yet Traveled
Nadine Sika* | 29 May 2012
In December 2011, the State Security apparatus cracked down on civil society institutions, mainly human rights organizations and international foundations, contending that they pose a national security threat...Military Decision-Making During the Arab Spring
Daniel Steiman* | 29 May 2012
Protesters shout slogans against military rulers in front of Egyptian military police standing guard near the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district of Cairo As the mass protests of the Arab Spring spread...Trojan Horse at the Gate?: Political Islamists & Democratization in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring
Luciana Storelli – Castro* | 29 May 2012
Egyptian Presidential candidate and moderate Islamist, Abdel Moein Aboul Fotouh (Photo credit: Khalil Hamra/AP) Democratic regimes mushroomed under the “third wave”[i] of democratization, as authoritarian...
