The Arab Spring Uncoiled

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Kurzman
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Micro Flow ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Opposition Movements ◽  
The Arab Spring

If this special issue on Middle East protest had been published two years ago, it probably would have focused more on accounting for the failure of opposition movements than accountting for their successes. Since the "Arab Spring" emerged in the winter of 2011, however, observers have rushed to explain mass revolts in the region. This introduction to the special issue reviews some of the explanations offered for these extraordinary events, and finds that the factors that are frequently cited in these explanations do not map comfortably onto the sites of greatest protest in the region. The essay then suggests an alternative approach, one that looks past causation in an attempt to understand the lived experience of the uprisings. The goal is to examine how actors changed as they perceived the possibility of protest, how they made meaning of their lives through the act of protesting, or not protesting, during moments of exceptional confusion and stress. This approach focuses on the twists of history that confound social scientific explanation. One twist that is highlighted in this essay and throughout the special issue is the sudden prominence of bravery—the ineffable but potentially influential desire to engage in risky protest. Bravery is not a causal variable but a disposition that may appear and disappear with the vagaries of the moment, altering the micro-flow of events and making a noticeable, if tiny, difference in the course of mass protests.

Socially constructing safety

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1259-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Turner ◽  
Garry C. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Organizational Conditions ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Social Scientific

Social scientific perspectives on occupational safety largely characterize it as a disembodied, tangible, and easily quantifiable phenomenon. Recent research efforts have focused on exploring organizational conditions that predict occupational safety outcomes, resulting in top-down, often de-contextualized prescriptions about how to control safety in the workplace (e.g. ‘management should promote a culture of safety’). There is growing interest in how social processes of organizing, wider socio-cultural considerations, and the situated production of safety can contribute to the appreciation of the ‘lived experience’ of life and death at work. This Special Issue focuses on the socially constructed nature of occupational safety and the insight it provides in understanding broader social and organizational processes. In this article, we first describe how various social scientific disciplines share an interest in occupational safety and organizational behavior, yet rarely speak to another. We provide an overview of the five articles that comprise the Special Issue, and briefly highlight some ways forward for studying safety in organizations.

scholarly journals The army as the main driving force of Egypt's transformation in 2011-2013

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Antonіі Palamar
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
State Transformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Opposition Movements ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Military

Following the 2013 coup that toppled Egypt’s democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, from power, the country has been led by military general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Eight years on, he retains the president’s office, and Egyptian parliament has decided to actually extend his term until 2030, ignoring the revolutionary demands that prompted millions of Egyptians to bring Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule to an end in January 2011. Despite the hopes of the Arab Spring, Egypt has not only stopped democratic transit, but has begun to move toward authoritarianism. Tens of thousands of people are kept in overcrowded prisons. Freedom of speech, media independence, and opposition movements are being suppressed in the name of the stability of the state. Tortures, unjustified detentions, police attacks, and death sentences have become a strategic tool in the hands of Egypt’s military leadership to combat possible escalation of protest movements.This article reviews history of the military leadership's influence on Egyptian public policy, outlines basic principles and methods of this influence, investigates the army's participation in the state transformation during the Arab Spring, and examines the policy of post-revolutionary military power in the country.The paper sheds light on the military elite, as a significant interest group, which until 2011 had no influence on the formation of the political agenda in Egypt. This study has confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood's seizure of power in 2012 and the subsequent desire to quickly Islamize the country under the guise of democratic slogans forced the military to oppose not only Islamization but also the democratization of the country. After the revolution, the military became the only force that could keep control and rule the country, using undemocratic methods to secure its own regime and suppress opposition movements. Finally, Egypt's transformation is still ongoing, as the demands of the 2011 revolution for democratization and liberalization of socio-political life remain unfulfilled, and the current military rule is largely reminiscent of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, which was overthrown during the Arab Spring.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL FOREWORD

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-623
Author(s):  
Beth Baron ◽  
Sara Pursley
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Guest Editor ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Self ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Self Immolation ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Editorial Foreword

We are thrilled to present this special issue of IJMES on “Maghribi Histories in the Modern Era” with guest editor Julia Clancy-Smith. The issue was conceived as an effort to bring scholarship on the Maghrib and Mashriq into closer dialogue. We issued the call for papers in December 2010, weeks before the self-immolation of Muhammad al-Buʿazizi in Tunisia triggered the string of upheavals often referred to as the Arab Spring. That North Africa took the lead in upending authoritarian regimes makes this issue especially timely. Although none of the pieces deals directly with contemporary events, they provide innovative ways for thinking about historical transformations and genealogies.

Puzzles, Time, and Ethnographic Sensibilities: Research Methods after the Arab Spring

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-140
Author(s):  
Wendy Pearlman
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Publishing World ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Experience Of Change ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

Parallel transformations in both the post-Arab spring Middle East and the publishing world present tests for scholars of the region. This essay suggests three strategies for reframing challenges as opportunities and reconceptualizing the seeming liabilities of academic work as resources. First, I propose that the surprising character of recent upheavals ought not demoralize scholarly inquiry but rather invigorate it by showcasing the kinds of difficult puzzles that propel innovation in research and theory-building. Second, I suggest that the fast pace of publishing over the Internet should renew our appreciation for its antithesis: the unique benefits of exploring and developing ideas slowly over time. Third, I argue that these two challenges-turned-opportunities come together to highlight the value of research methods with an ethnographic sensibility. These approaches can help us ground theory in a more nuanced understanding of the individual and the lived experience of change.

Death at the Border: Revisiting the Debate in Light of the Euro-Mediterranean Migration Crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-388
Author(s):  
Antoine Pécoud
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Irregular Migration ◽  
Lethal Effects ◽  
Behavioral Scientist ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Mediterranean Migration ◽  
The Arab Spring

Migrant deaths at the border is a long-standing consequence of border control. The lethal effects of irregular migration have become particularly salient in the Euro-Mediterranean region since the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011, as several thousand migrants have been losing their lives every year. This special issue of American Behavioral Scientist revisits the debate on border deaths in the light of this context. This article introduces this special issue and outlines the key arguments developed therein.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL FOREWORD

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-397
Author(s):  
Beth Baron ◽  
Sara Pursley
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Editorial Foreword

This issue starts with a section on modern Morocco, in anticipation of the upcoming IJMES special issue on Maghribi histories in the modern era. Our call for papers for the special issue was released in December 2010, just before the events of the “Arab Spring” accelerated what was likely the already growing importance of Maghrib scholarship within the broader field of Middle East studies.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-35
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Nugent
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Authoritarian Breakdown ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Democratic Norms

This introductory chapter provides a background of the Arab Spring protests, looking at how the cases of Egypt and Tunisia confirm a central lesson of past transitions: the collapse of an authoritarian regime may trigger a transition, but it does not always lead to successful democratic consolidation. A transition might instead result in reentrenched authoritarianism or any number of revolutionary alternatives. The successful progression from authoritarian breakdown to democratic consolidation is highly contingent on whether elites can compromise and cooperate during the transition, and make the necessary decisions and sacrifices to establish democratic norms and processes. Elite actors' ability to compromise and cooperate in turn depends on the level of polarization among them. This book argues that the political identities of opposition groups are shaped by their experiences of authoritarian repression; these identities in turn determine the levels of political polarization at the moment of transition.

scholarly journals Official al-Azhar versus al-Azhar Imagined: The Arab Spring and the Revival of Religious Imagination

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-32
Author(s):  
Masooda Bano ◽  
Hanane Benadi
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Political Imagination ◽  
Creative Imagination ◽  
Religious Imagination ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWhile the impact of the Arab Spring on the political imagination of the Egyptian youth has been well documented, scholars have largely ignored how the revolutionary fervour of the time also sparked the imagination of religiously inclined young people, especially the young scholars and graduates of al-Azhar. Spurred by the revolutionary spirit of the moment, these young Azharis not only questioned the official Azhari establishment, they also established two new religious institutions: Shaykh al-ʿAmūd and Dār al-ʿImād. Both institutions credited their origin to the Arab Spring; and, while they specialised in different aspects of Islamic scholarly tradition, both shared a similar critique of al-Azhar’s loss of authentic tradition. Engaging with their critiques and approaches informs our understanding of how the Arab Spring spurred creative imagination even within the religious sphere. The article contributes to the existing scholarship on how the 1961 reforms of al-Azhar have challenged its popular legitimacy.

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