Assessing MENA Political Reform, Post-Arab Spring

The euphoria and promise that accompanied the Arab Spring has been replaced with a business-as-usual tone in the MENA. Revolutionary shifts in political and religious power have been tempered and, in some cases, reversed. Observers should not be surprised at these outcomes, but skeptics would be advised to remain attentive to regional factors that continue to present potentials for reform. This volume examines a variety of such factors as mediators of MENA political reform, including: Islam, political party and government relations, regime type, elite influence, and Internet access. By providing both a broad review of the relevant literatures and a flexible assessment of the region’s political prospects in the post-Spring period, the volume leverages insights from a series of regional experts and political analysts to offer a useful contribution to the continuing work of reform by MENA scholars, policymakers, and the general public.

Calfano and colleagues. . . .provide nuanced explanations. The reader learns, for example, that power-sharing relationships between political parties and governments—such as in the Maghreb states of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco—are crucial in deciding the capacity for reform in the post uprising era., Using a plethora of literature to build their arguments, the contributing authors explain the unique attributes of the region and other events that many Western observers see as contributing to Arab Spring and the basics of MENA society. . . .At a time when events in the MENA region change on an almost daily basis, this book will help the reader or researcher to understand the impact of Arab Spring on continuing events in MENA, including the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The research used by the authors is well presented and documented. The writers have used a variety of sources including social and political theory, as well as public opinion polls and surveys to present quantitatively the opinions of the people. . . .This book is a necessary read for the Middle East political observer especially as so many questions remain on the table from the ongoing wars and negotiations, the Iran nuclear issues, and the Israel-Palestine problem., As the MENA region still endures political uncertainty, new questions provoke deeper reflection than romanticizing the symbolism of the Arab ‘Spring’. This collection brings new perspectives to the key question: why the Arab open-ended uprisings have not yet delivered their promised social change, and illuminates the path of political development at this post-Spring transitional era. This volume gathers an impressive cast of scholars who critically deconstruct the complexity of Arab transformative politics, and provide important new optics through which to study the upcoming challenges and expectations in the region.

Brian Robert Calfano is associate professor of political science at Missouri State University.