In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe: see the five key themes in our right hand column. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. On this page, we wish to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world.

Looking to the future of the Arab Spring, we have chosen three new avenues for exploration: on the Tahrir Square 'meme'; on Social innovation in the region; and You tell us.

Palestine and the two-state phantom

Ghassan Khatib 25 January 2012
A combination of political changes and shifts in attitude are making the possibility of a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine increasingly remote, says Ghassan Khatib.

SCAF’S parliament

Basil Magdy 24 January 2012
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is the main obstacle to the revolution, and parliament is to be permanently distracted by political contestation irrelevant to the goals of the revolution.

Why women are at the heart of Egypt’s political trials and tribulations

Hania Sholkamy 24 January 2012
The Egyptian elections delivered a parliament that has one of the lowest rates of female representation in the world. Yet this is the parliament that expresses the political will of the people of Egypt. It may also be one that ignores the social realities of gender and of women’s political participation, says Hania Sholkamy

Egyptian women: performing in the margin, revolting in the centre

Zainab Magdy 23 January 2012

"We are constantly aware of our gender and of being watched and judged because of it, so we end up "performing". But in taking to the streets there are no performative acts and there is no audience. Now I feel that there is no going back, After all, there is no text to follow, and no director. It is as it has always been: us and them", says Zainab Magdy

Between twitter and the street: Tunisia celebrates its Second Independence

Kacem Jlidi 23 January 2012
A year ago, on this same day and on this same street, Tunisians came united to shout “Dégage” (Leave), a key word of the Tunisian Revolution. Today, they come to celebrate the first anniversary of their revolution.

What we are reading - January 23, 2012

Arab Awakening 22 January 2012
Our readers help us highlight what they are reading about the Arab Spring from around the web...

Syria: the next Algeria?

Karen Kramer 20 January 2012
The situation in Syria is becoming increasingly grim. As the standoff between the protesters and the regime turns more violent, the prospects for a democratic transition become more remote.

Post-BICI Bahrain: between reform and stagnation

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and Elham Fakhro 19 January 2012
As the first anniversary of the February 14 uprising approaches, the regime and the country at large find themselves at a crossroads in which there is dangerously little space for a strong middle ground.

Tunisia: the power of example

Vidar Helgesen 19 January 2012
The pioneering role of Tunisia in the Arab awakening is being sustained a year on as it negotiates its democratic transition, says Vidar Helgesen.

Sanctioning Iranian oil

Reyhaneh Noshiravani 19 January 2012
With increasing geopolitical instability in oil producing states and the barriers that stand in the way of reaching a multilateral policy, the threat of sanctions in Iran only serves to intensify uncertainty surrounding oil price forecasts for 2012

Thinking about war with Iran

Michael Doliner 19 January 2012
The real Iranian threat is not its nuclear capacity but its independence. If Iran continues to stand as a model of defiance for increasingly poverty-stricken and restless populations of family fiefdoms in the Gulf, the current US-backed setups will either fall or be forced to democratise. These potentially catastrophic losses of empire go a long way to explaining the rising beat of war drums in the region.

Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s bluff and the west’s fears

Richard Rousseau 19 January 2012
Iranian military action in the Strait of Hormuz is highly unlikely. It would not at all benefit most global and regional powers and would have disastrous consequences for Iran itself.

Counter-balancing Saudi Arabia: why the US should not abandon Bahrain’s reformists

Hasan Tariq Al Hasan 19 January 2012

Rather than calling upon the United States and other western powers to abandon the Bahraini leadership at this time, we should instead be calling upon them to increase their ever-so vital support of the kingdom’s reformists through a series of different aid and development packages.

Morocco's silent revolution

Valentina Bartolucci 17 January 2012
Morocco’s experience of the Arab spring of 2011, including constitutional reform and a parliamentary election, exemplifies the country’s political distinctiveness within the region. The events of 2012 will demonstrate how far hopes of real change can be sustained, says Valentina Bartolucci.

Meet the ‘new’ Hamas: strategic shift or temporary deviation from a violent path?

Benedetta Berti 15 January 2012
Contrary to the widespread assumption that the recent ‘nonviolent turn’ would be a new and unprecedented development in the evolution of Hamas, the history of the group reveals a constant internal tension along this political-military line

Columnist of the Week

Omer Harari

Israel and the vertical politics of interruptions

Syria: 'cold war redux'?

Syria's war, Israel's trap
Paul Rogers

The Iranian key to the Syrian crisis
Heiko Wimmen

Has Turkey reached a dead-end in Syria?
Firdevs Robinson

oD author detained in Dubai

"Mr. Ulrichsen believes that an article he wrote last summer "The U.A.E.: Holding Back the Tide," may have played a part in his blacklisting."
- Chronicle of Higher Education


Rita from Syria

Latest article:

Syrian colours: the greys

Rap and the Arab Spring

Interview with Arab rappers Ibn Thabit and Deeb

Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3

Full Event, Rap and the Arab Spring

Democracy and Islam

Sami Zubaida writes that the political fields and social spaces of many countries in the region have been opened, however chaotically.

Tariq Ramadan argues that we must look at the Arab Awakening in economic as well as political terms.

Mali in crisis

The Mali effect
Stephen Ellis

Mali, and remote-control war
Paul Rogers

Qatar intervening in northern Mali?
Mehdi Lazar

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Our Editors

Bassam Gergi

Bassam Gergi

Associate Editor of Arab Awakening is pursuing an M.Phil in Comparative Government at Oxford University

Mazen Zoabi

Mazen Zoabi

Translation Editor of Arab Awakening is a psychology graduate with an interest in film

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