Democratizing Potential of the ‘Arab Spring’: Some Early Observations

Abstract

An influential approach in the scholarship has stressed the ‘robustness of authoritarianism’ in the Arab world. While this approach has generated a rich research programme yielding valuable insights, it has also contributed to a widespread tendency to downplay the significance of the 2011 uprisings. A perspective that is broader both temporally (going back to the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire’s collapse) and spatially (to include Turkey, another successor state to that same empire which may serve as a useful negative case) can illuminate not only variations between regional states, but also convergences – such as the expansion of political mobilization and participation, or the emergence of Islamism versus secular nationalism as a key axis of ideological conflict – that suggest less pessimistic conclusions about the prospects for democracy in the longer-term future.

Social media marketing, Turkish behaviour and the 2016 military coup attempt

“…Social media marketing demonstrates significant influence on political life throughout the world. In the last decade, social media marketing tools and variables have been consistently impacting political elections and changes in the USA (Enli, 2017;Cook, 2010;Baumgartner and Morris, 2010), France (Wells et al, 2016), Egypt, Tunisia, Syria (Attia et al, 2015(Attia et al, , 2018bLavie, 2017;Yildirim, 2017;Frost, 2016;Al-Anani, 2015;Mufti, 2015;Yom, 2015;Hashemi, 2013;Uysal, 2013;Smith, 2013;Torelli, 2012), Nigeria (Udanor et al, 2016), Malaysia (Smeltzer and Keddy, 2010), Iran (Marandi et al, 2010;Morozov, 2009;Bazzi, 2009), China (Guobin, 2009), and Pakistan (Shaheen, 2008).…”

Introduction: The Future of Democracy

“…Malik Mufti (2015, in this issue) focuses his article on what the experience of Turkey can tell us about the wider processes of democratization in the Middle East in general. He points to the particular circumstances and consequences of the emergence of Kemalism as a political force in Turkey, its significant autonomy from external intervention and the absence of significant internal opposition.…”