For those countries undergoing social upheaval, the Arab Spring has had a direct impact, but what about the ‘others’? The "Spring" of other Arab nations has shaped regional policy and had an impact far beyond what is readily apparent. Syrian unrest has allowed Lebanon to finally play a role in the Arab uprisings. Saudi Arabia must struggle to cope with interests at home and abroad. Israel is witnessing the birth of a middle class movement in the form of J14. This section will map the hidden shoots of the spring. Return to Arab Awakening

Lebanon: The 'Lee-Side' of the Arab Spring

Somdeep Sen 15 November 2011
Lebanon’s sectarian political system is a well-founded reason to start a revolution, as those from the Arab Spring, but their lack of national collectivity and common identity is an obstacle to unity.

Revolutionary change in the Arab world: what prospects for Palestinians?

Ahmad Samih Khalidi 21 October 2011
It may be that the era of Palestinian nationalism as it was born, post-1948, is coming to an end. Instead we may be heading in a new direction of unity and common identity across boundaries; 1948, 1967, Diaspora - a form of unity of ‘condition’.

The economic basis of indignation in Israel

Angel Martin 29 September 2011
The J14 protest movement that started in Tel Aviv was sparked by the anger of young Israelis over the cost of living. Angel Martin looks at why the cost of living is so high in Israel and describes a corporatist economy in the grip of powerful interest groups

Will the Israelis listen to the clock ticking?

Dana Rubin 21 September 2011
In this eventful month of September, the Israeli (Arab) spring has to decide: where does it stand, first and foremost, in regard to Palestine, but also in regard to Turkey and Egypt.

Lebanon and the "Spring" of others

Fatima El Issawi 7 September 2011
Syria’s unrest has allowed Lebanon to finally play a role in the Arab uprisings, with potentially dangerous effects, argues Fatima Issawi

Don't say working class, say families

Naama Nagar 19 August 2011
The J-14 movement in Israel and the Wisconsin Cheddar Revolution raise similar issues of security, social welfare and democracy. Both are challenged by a newly potent, yet de-classed Middle Class.

Will Iraq play to the US tune in Syria?

James Denselow 18 August 2011
Obama wants Assad gone, but can US ‘ally’ Iraq be persuaded to turn on the Syrian regime?

Arab Spring and the Turkish model

Razmig Shirinian 14 August 2011
The idea of democracy in Turkey suffers from an ethno-centric definition of citizenship and rejects the more inclusive understanding of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural diversity.

Israeli Summer

Naama Nagar 5 August 2011
This remarkable movement needs to strengthen its democratic decision-making processes, including marginalized groups in the negotiations, ensuring welfare for the poor, not only for the middle classes.

Arab risings and the Israel-Palestine conflict: from national to human rights

Lawrence Joffe 23 July 2011
An Independent Jewish Voices panel discussion suggests that the most important lesson of the Arab Spring may be the introduction of public will and opinion into the debate, and that this applies as much to inter-state diplomacy as domestic governance.

What Iran must learn from Turkey

Mohammed Ayoob 29 June 2011
What the Iranian elite needs to learn from Turkey is how to rescue Islam from the state

Sharia and Egypt’s Constitution: an Iraqi blueprint

Ayelet Banai 29 June 2011
The constitutional debates that took place in the run-up to the formation of the current Iraqi constitution provide a blueprint for the questions Islamic parties must address if they are to be insiders to the process of consolidating democracy.

Democracy in the Middle East: watch the Kurdish issue

Marianna Charountaki 15 June 2011
Democratic transformation in the Middle East will need a recognition and resolution of legitimate Kurdish claims. The Arab Spring provides a new setting for the challenge

Bonfire of the experts: the Arab uprisings and the Israeli-Palestinian question

Tony Klug 1 June 2011
We need to understand that patience on the Palestinian side has almost completely run out after many fruitless years of aimless negotiations and feeble international mediation. The Palestinians – exasperated by US reluctance or impotence - see the shelf-life of the long-running but deeply flawed peace process expiring later this year.

Turkey as a model of democracy and Islam

Sami Zubaida 30 May 2011
Democracies are about more than elections and majorities: they require genuine separation of powers, autonomous institutions and associations, all regulated by the rule of law. The current Turkish situation is the product of social and institutional patterns, now in question, in which multiple centres of institutional power confronted and checked one another, unlike the centralised and personalised regimes of much of the Arab world.

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The boundaries of Israeli unity

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The Iranian key to the Syrian crisis
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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


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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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