The Arab Public Sphere: Challenging the Old Regime

Abstract

Having identified the disruption of societal–state and civil–security sector relations as a root cause of the Arab Spring, this chapter explores how the media revolution has set the scene for the rise of a new Arab public sphere. This chapter intends to show how this public sphere has facilitated the emancipation of the individual from the oppression of authoritarian regimes, providing the individual with platforms for dialogue and debate to mobilize public opinion. The Arab public sphere has emerged since the 1990s to reshape the region’s socio-political reality. It allowed individuals to associate and mobilize in an effort to express their grievances vis-à-vis their oppressive regimes.