A Tale of Four Worlds: The Arab Region After the Uprisings
David Ottaway and Marina Ottaway
Abstract
First came the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire following World War I; then, in the 1950s and ’60s, the Nasser-inspired wave of Arab nationalism and socialism. The Arab world’s third great political cataclysm of the past 100 years—the 2011 uprisings—has also brought permanent changes, but not as its activists had hoped.Their consequences have differed greatly from area to area, splintering the Arab region into four different worlds. The Levant states have disintegrated, possibly irreversibly. The Gulf monarchies have embarked on far-reaching plans of economic and social change to stave off ... More
First came the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire following World War I; then, in the 1950s and ’60s, the Nasser-inspired wave of Arab nationalism and socialism. The Arab world’s third great political cataclysm of the past 100 years—the 2011 uprisings—has also brought permanent changes, but not as its activists had hoped.Their consequences have differed greatly from area to area, splintering the Arab region into four different worlds. The Levant states have disintegrated, possibly irreversibly. The Gulf monarchies have embarked on far-reaching plans of economic and social change to stave off discontent. Egypt has retreated into military authoritarianism and a war on Islamists, threatening its future stability. Only the Maghreb countries, which have started integrating Islamists into their political systems, offer some hope for progress toward democracy. Marina and David Ottaway have brought together fifty years of experience observing the Arab world, and a wealth of first-hand information gathered from living and travelling extensively in the region. A Tale of Four Worlds is an indispensable analysis of the profound upheavals that have shaken—and continue to transform—Arab and global politics.
Keywords:
2011 Uprisings,
Military Authoritarianism,
War on Islamists,
Integration of Islamists In Political System,
State Disintegration in Iraq And Syria
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190061715 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2020 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780190061715.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
David Ottaway, author
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.
Marina Ottaway, author
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.
More
Less
