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

"Beka!" ("enough"). Will Ethiopia be next?

René Lefort 25 May 2011
Meles Zenawi has been protecting himself from any Arab-spring copy-cat movements in Ethiopia. On balance, it is unlikely that the opposition is strong enough to mount the kind of challenge seen in Egypt and Tunisia. Conditions are not seen to be as brutally unjust in Ethiopia, and no one doubts that the army would be loyal to the Tigray-dominated regime. But there may be surprises yet

The Arab revolutions and al-Qaida

Khaled Hroub 23 May 2011
The democratic wave in the Arab world confirms the emptiness of al-Qaida’s ideology, strategy and rhetoric. The death of Osama bin Laden can be seen as part of this wider process, says Khaled Hroub. 

Iraq and the April Spring: Maliki’s last chance

By an Iraqi 8 May 2011
Just as Iraq’s Prime Minister was putting the finishing touches on an authoritarian edifice in the best Arab tradition, the whole model comes crumbling down.

The Hamas-Fatah unity deal: regional and international power dynamics

Corinna Mullin 3 May 2011
Despite the best efforts of the US and its European and regional allies to ignore them, international and regional factors that enabled the domestic power structures to remain in place for so long have also been the focus of protesters’ grievances and demands.

Gulf States: studious silence falls on Arab Spring

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen 25 April 2011
New demands for political reform in the Gulf are meeting a repressive response by regimes especially panicked when pro-democracy protests swell into cross-sectarian movements for meaningful political reform. This brutality polarises opinion between advocates of reform and proponents of repression. It also poses a dilemma for western policy makers in their engagement with their strategic partners in the region.

Gaza on my mind

Jonathan Chadwick 21 April 2011
The latest of the theatre director’s ‘strange days’ in Cairo, while waiting to hear if he and his partner have permission to enter Gaza; caught in stasis while extraordinary events unfold around them. Updated.

New Turkey and the Arab Spring?

Nuh Yilmaz 20 April 2011
Once Turkey considers and comes to terms with the challenge of formulating a new political language, it can rise to the level it aspires to as a new actor in a new region and in a new global order.

Gaza Theatre

Jonathan Chadwick 14 April 2011
A theatre director is stuck in Cairo waiting to hear if he and his partner have permission to enter Gaza. These letters capture ‘strange days’, as they are caught in stasis while extraordinary events unfold around them

Qatar and the Arab Spring

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen 12 April 2011
Why has Qatar experienced such a different trajectory to much of the rest of the Arab world in recent months? What explains its recent actions, and how might it emerge from the Arab Spring?

Consolidating emerging MENA democracies

Alfio Cerami 5 April 2011
Democracy is once again the challenge. Overcoming divisions through the development of new welfare systems will be vital to the success of this project.

Military intervention against Gaddafi might shake the regime in Iran

Afshin Shahi 16 March 2011
If major western capitals reach a consensus with the Arab world to intervene in Libya, Tehran may well perceive this as a threat against its own survival.

Kurdistan comes alive

Ranj Alaaldin 16 March 2011
Despite its unique circumstances, Kurdistan has not been immune to the chain of protests across the middle east. Ranj Alaaldin expresses hope that the movement will help build upon, rather than set back, the region's nascent democratic institutions.

Israel and the Arab awakening

Thomas O'Dwyer 9 March 2011
Israel’s political class is struggling to make sense of a crumbling Arab order and the loss of the certainties it embodied, reports Thomas O’Dwyer.

Lebanon: the last conservative regime in the region?

Jamil Mouawad 5 March 2011
Several Lebanese politicians and commentators have proudly presented the Arab revolutionary movements as an extension of the March 2005 uprising in Beirut. They are quite wrong.

Pro-democracy demonstrations in northern Iraq/south Kurdistan

Kamal Chomani and Jake Hess 2 March 2011
The winds of rebellion have reached the Kurdistan autonomous region in northern Iraq, where a series of demonstrations have broken out to demand greater democracy, improved social services, and an end to corruption.
In this interview, a prominent journalist and democracy advocate discusses the origins of the protests and the wider political situation in the Kurdish region

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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