The Arab Spring abroad : diaspora activism against authoritarian regimes /
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has long fascinated Western observers, more often than not out of a sense of misguided curiosity. Owing to imperialism, Orientalism, and enduring stereotypes, commentary has revolved around a central query. Why is the region and its people so "backward&qu...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
[2022].
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| Series: | Cambridge studies in contentious politics.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has long fascinated Western observers, more often than not out of a sense of misguided curiosity. Owing to imperialism, Orientalism, and enduring stereotypes, commentary has revolved around a central query. Why is the region and its people so "backward"? The social sciences have remained focused on this question, albeit in a modified form, since the fall of the Soviet Union. As researchers looked optimistically to a post-1989 future that appeared to be liberalizing, they asked why the wave of democracy sweeping the formerly colonized world had bypassed the MENA region. The answer provided, in one form or another, was that regimes led by autocrats, kings and presidents-for-life were too powerful and the people too weak, too loyal, apathetic, divided and tribal, to mount a credible challenge to authoritarian rule. |
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| Physical Description: | xvii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781108845533 1108845533 9781108969956 110896995X |