Routledge handbook of the arab spring: Rethinking democratization

Abstract

The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunisia in December 2010 heralded the arrival of the ‘Arab Spring, ' a startling, yet not unprecedented, era of profound social and political upheaval. The meme of the Arab Spring is characterized by bottom-up change, or the lack thereof, and its effects are still unfurling today. The Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring seeks to provide a departure point for ongoing discussion of a fluid phenomenon on a plethora of topics, including: • contexts and contests of democratization; • the sweep of the Arab Spring; • Egypt; • women and the Arab Spring; • agents of change and the technology of protest; • the impact of the Arab Spring in the wider Middle East and further afield. Collating a wide array of viewpoints, specialisms, biases, and degrees of proximity and distance from events that shook the Arab world to its core, the Handbook is written with the reader in mind to provide students, practitioners, diplomats, policy-makers and lay readers with contextualization and knowledge, and to set the stage for further discussion of the Arab Spring.