An account of the drastic identity and narrative shifts during the Syrian uprising. The author focuses on the discourse of the Syrian regime, as well as those of anti- and pro-Assad Syrians.
Dominant narratives on Syria simplify it to a struggle between a dictatorship vs Islamic extremists, with Syrians included only as passive, voiceless, victims. In Part 3, Syrians are re-introduced as a people revolting against authoritarianism in both its secular and religious embodiments.
The author reviews the only documentary released to-date of the people's uprising in Egypt until the fall of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013.
This sort of explanation reads much better than admitting to a naked power grab, sacrificing in the process Egypt’s first free and fair elections.
Egyptians must brace themselves for more violence: the proponents of severely curtailed liberties in the name of national security and the advocates of illegal retribution are back with a vengeance.
Everywhere the Arab uprisings have been confronted by the entrenched vested interests of old regimes, the so-called ‘deep state’ in Egypt, and by Islamist populism. The alignment of regional powers, following geopolitical interests, has sharpened the sectarian lines. But these alignments are not s
Ennahda's attempts to institutionalise its power and silence its opposition cannot be condoned. Nevertheless, Tunisia’s stymied liberalisation process must be understood within the broader context of domestic power dynamics, rather than solely through the lens of an ‘anti-democratic’ Islamist regi
Contrary to the fears of some western observers, Islam has had a strong tradition of rule of law and religious and political freedom. There is no reason for concern about the electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
One-year on, the Arab revolutions continue to circle around the issue of whether Islam is compatible with democracy. This article asks the long-feared question: Is the Arab Spring, articulated in the democratic idiom of freedom, liberty and justice, doomed to a takeover by the Islamists?
