Introduction: Contextualizing the Arab Spring Uprisings: Different Regimes, Different Revolutions, and Different Trajectories

Abstract

From 2010 until 2012, waves of protests spread across the Arab lands to the beat of demonstrators’ chants, echoing demands that soon became impossible to ignore: the masses had come together to say loud and clear: ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam , or “the people want to topple the regime.” These calls for more social justice, effective citizenship, economic opportunities, more rights, less repression, and more political freedom spread almost everywhere: from newspaper headlines to Twitter and Facebook; they appeared on protest banners or were simply written on walls: the message was clear and the struggle for a life of dignity was there to stay. It seemed as if a long-awaited implosion was taking place despite the best efforts of Arab rulers and their great power patrons to maintain the status quo and preempt fundamental change. As this episode of contentious politics struck the Arab region, it restructured regional relations and challenged long-held assumptions about Arab political culture, especially the lack of democracy and the propensity of the people to tolerate authoritarianism. In the eyes of the world, for a brief moment, by breaking their chains the Arabs belatedly regained their humanity and agency.