The Arab Winter
Democratic Consolidation, Civil War, and Radical Islamists

Compares experiences of the Arab Spring for a comprehensive account of how nations handled the challenge of democratic consolidation.

Stephen J. King (Author)

9781108708661, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 February 2020

338 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.49 kg

'King tells this story in five well-researched chapters with a short conclusion. His book should be an instant classic in comparative politics and would be suitable for undergraduate courses on Middle East politics.' S. Waalkes, Choice

In 2011, the world watched as dictators across the Arab world were toppled from power. In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, ordinary Arab citizens mobilized across the region during the Arab Spring to reinvent the autocratic Arab world into one characterized by democracy, dignity, socioeconomic justice, and inviolable human rights. This unique comparative analysis of countries before, during and after the Arab Spring seeks to explain the divergent outcomes, disappointing and even harrowing results of efforts to overcome democratic consolidation challenges, from the tentative democracy in Tunisia to the emergence of the Islamic State, and civil war and authoritarian retrenchment everywhere else. Tracing the period of the Arab Spring from its background in long-term challenges to autocratic regimes, to the mass uprisings, authoritarian breakdown, and the future projections and requirements for a democratizing conclusion, Stephen J. King establishes a broad but focused history which refines the leading theory of democratization in comparative politics, and realigns the narrative of Arab Spring history by bringing its differing results to the fore.

Table of abbreviations
Introduction
1. Tunisia
2. Egypt
3. Libya
4. Yemen
5. Broken states: Iraq, Syria and ISIS
6. Summary and conclusions
Index.

Subject Areas: Revolutionary groups & movements [JPWQ], Demonstrations & protest movements [JPWF], Political activism [JPW], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Political science & theory [JPA]