Workshop 13: Arab 'Revolutions' in Comparative Perspective, Contestation, Transformation and the Nature of the State
Abstract
The workshop seeks to analyze recent popular uprisings, other forms of protest and their impact on polities, and policies in the light of the ‘nature’ of the states concerned. Differences in terms of contestation, regime response and overall political dynamics seem to reflect a variety of historically grown and produced structural features ranging from the results of diverging dynamics of state formation to political economy features. Thus the relatively smooth process of change in Tunisia and Egypt in spite of its limits may reflect the relative success of state and nation building strategies pursued over centuries by ruling groups that tended by and large to rule over the same territory and the same population. In light of this, the workshop is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature concerning the nature of Arab state formation and its impact on the ensuing Arab uprisings. However, in doing so the main concern will be to identify why social contestation has led to different results in different Arab countries.
Description
In spite of numerous similarities recent forms of contestation in the various Arab countries and their broader political effects display important differences. For instance, incumbents fell quickly in Tunisia and Egypt while they managed to cling on for considerable length of time in Libya and Syria. Protests were overwhelmingly peaceful in the former two countries but, as they dragged on, turned increasingly violent in the latter two cases. In Tunisia and Syria they started in peripheral areas of the state while in Egypt they began in the capital city, partly reflecting the role of different social groups and constituencies. In the meantime developments in Tunisia have taken the turn of a democratic transition of sorts, while Egypt may get stuck in a specific form of authoritarian upgrading; much suggests that the armed forces as a key pillar of the ancien régime attempt to form a new dominant coalition and to limit to a minimum participatory advances since 25 January 2011.
The workshop seeks to analyze recent popular uprisings, other forms of protest and their impact on polities, and policies in the light of the ‘nature’ of the states concerned. Differences in terms of contestation, regime response and overall political dynamics seem to reflect a variety of historically grown and produced structural features ranging from the results of diverging dynamics of state formation to political economy features. Thus the relatively smooth process of change in Tunisia and Egypt in spite of its limits may reflect the relative success of state and nation building strategies pursued over centuries by ruling groups that tended by and large to rule over the same territory and the same population. Put differently, Tunisia and Egypt come close to the nation state model where the boundaries of a legally established political entity coincide with those of an imagined community in the sense of Anderson (1991) that commands the ultimate loyalty of its members. In contrast, in line with Korany’s (1987) distinction, Libya, Yemen and Syria may be called territorial states where states include various loyalty groups at sub state level, that also frequently extend beyond the state borders. Forms of protest and ensuing political dynamics also seem to reflect the importance of hydrocarbon rents and their distribution, thus opposing for instance Saudi Arabia and Libya. Yet other differences may distinguish monarchies from republics.
Recent literature in the field identified more commonalities amongst Arab regimes, rather than differences. These have tried to illustrate the reasons beyond the Arab uprisings, in light of the crisis of authoritarianism (Springborg 2011; Brownlee 2011; Lust 2011). This has largely neglected older literature, which identified differences in Arab state formation processes (Anderson 1987; Anderson 1991; Ismael and Ismael 1991). Analyzing recent events in the light of such structural features of the states concerned will not only help to contextualize past and current developments but also allow us to make better informed guesses about likely scenarios of change in the short and medium term.
In light of this, the workshop is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature concerning the nature of Arab state formation and its impact on the ensuing Arab uprisings. However, in doing so the main concern will be to identify why social contestation has led to different results in different Arab countries:
• Why were Mubarak and Bin Ali ousted rather quickly and peacefully in Egypt and Tunisia, while protracted contestation in Libya, Yemen and Syria turned violent with uncertain results particularly in the latter case?
• How do societal cleavages such as ethnic, tribal and religious divides affect the forms of contestation, regime responses and ensuing dynamics of contestation?
• Why do most monarchies seem to be more stable in the face of contestation than republics?
• To what extent do current dynamics of transformation reflect processes of state formation, including strategies of state and nation building, and more generally the history of the states concerned?
• How are these dynamics influenced by the medium, and long term emergence of public spheres, civil society organizations, and less formal modes of social organization?
• How do current dynamics of transformation reflect medium and long term economic change and its social corollaries such as the place occupied by these countries in the international division of labor, specific forms of wealth creation, industrialization etc.?
• More specifically, to what extent are current processes of transformation affected by oil and gas revenues accruing to the states, their trickle down effects, and their implications for state society relations?
• To what extent is contestation in the Arab countries a specific case of global discontent with the recent development of international capitalism? How can comparative studies help us to understand current change in the Arab countries?
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