This week considers the 2010-2011 uprisings in the Arab World and Iran. We consider the origins of the 'Arab Spring' and Iran's 'Green Movement,' the circumstances of the uprisings, and their aftermath.

Questions:

What are the limitations of the term 'Arab Spring' as a mode of explanation?

Situate the origins of the 'Arab Spring' and Iran's 'Green Movement' in the broader context of economic and political reform in the 20th and 21st century Middle East.

Cleveland argues that by the end of 2011, 'the authoritarian order of the Middle East was shaken.' Using specific examples, to what extent do you agree or disagree?

Readings:

William Cleveland, 'The 2011 Uprisings and their Aftermath' in History of the Modern Middle East (2017), Chp. 26 (pp. 537-555).

-- Arab Spring and its Aftermath:

Paul Amar and Vijay Prashad eds., Dispatches from the Arab Spring: Understanding the New Middle East (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), Introduction vii-xiii; selections Tunisia (pp.1-22), Algeria (pp.122-133), Libya, Egypt (pp.24-55).

-- Iran's Green Movement and its Aftermath:

Mohammad Maljoo 'The Green Movement Awaits an Invisible Hand,' Middle East Report Online, June 26, 2010.

Naghmeh Sohrabi, Arang Keshavarzian, 'Lessons Learned (and Ignored),' Middle East Report Online, May 26, 2017.

Recommended Reading:

Bassam Haddad and Rosie Bsheer, eds., The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of an Old Order? (Pluto Press, 2012).

Ahmad Shokr, Reflections on Two Revolutions, MERIP 265 (Winter 2012).